Post office looking at Ketchum sites

The U.S. Postal Service is looking at four sites in Ketchum for a new post office.

One is the landmark Bald Mountain Hot Springs complex on Main Street, which is now called Headwaters.

Another site is behind the existing post office on Sun Valley Road and Second Avenue. Ski Tek is in an existing building on the lot, which extends north of the building.

The third is on the east side of the intersection of Sun Valley Road and Second Avenue. A small older house occupies the lot.

A fourth option, expanding the post office on its existing site, is also being considered.

The Postal Service wants to know what its customers think of the options.

On Tuesday, Dec. 15, at 6 p.m., officials from the Postal Service will gather with Ketchum residents and business owners at the American Legion Hall to discuss the alternative sites.

A decade of rapid growth within Ketchum and its surrounding service area has stretched its post office’s resources to the breaking point, officials say, and prompted the search for a satisfactory new location.

The site concerns locals because the Ketchum post office is capable of only limited motorized delivery. Postal customers, for the most part, walk, bike or drive to the current location on Sun Valley Road and First Avenue to collect their mail from postal boxes.

Thw latest proposal is the third attempt by the Postal Service to expand the Ketchum facility. The first request for a larger post office was made in 1988, and current negotiations between the Postal Service and city officials are entering their second year of discussions.

"The purpose of the meeting is to solicit input from the citizenry with respect to what we have available to us in the way of opportunities to expand the existing post office or build a new post office," U.S. Postal Service project manager Russ Rainey said. "We encourage anyone with any interest (in this project) to attend."

Ketchum City Council members, in previous discussions with the Postal Service, designated boundaries around the city core within which the new post office should be built.

The Postal Service advertised for land and existing buildings in the selected area. The responses to those ads are in, and the feasibility studies are complete.

The Postal Service wants input from residents before completing the review process and making a final selection. No decision has been made, nor priority set regarding the potential sites, according to Rainey.

All the sites are within the area designated by the city council.

Following the public meeting Tuesday night, Postal officials will convene a site-review panel of post office employees to discuss input collected from residents and business owners.

The American Legion Hall is at 220 Cottonwood St. in West Ketchum.