The United State Postal Service facility being built at the corners of College and Nicholson Avenues may now be twice as large as proposed earlier this year — and the agency still has not told the public anything about their plans.
That is unacceptable.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel …
A U.S. Postal Service facility coming to Oak Creek now includes an addition that would apparently replace the downtown Milwaukee postal center — opening up that massive building for redevelopment.
The revised plans for the agency’s Oak Creek project now call for a building, constructed in two phases, totaling 935,000 square feet.
The agency plans to develop the building on more than 60 acres it owns at 2201 E. College Ave., southeast of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
The first phase, a mail processing annex totaling 423,900 square feet, would replace an outdated Oak Creek facility at 7620 S. 10th St. The second phase, a processing and distribution center, would encompass 511,100 square feet, according to newly revised plans filed with the state Department of Natural Resources. …
The Postal Service has already started site preparation work for the first phase, Vickers said. That building is to be partly completed by November 2020, and fully finished by March 2021, according to city officials, who want more time to review those plans. The new documents filed with the DNR do not indicate a timetable for the second phase.
But they do show that the 935,000-square-foot building would be on one level. That would allow for the facility’s automated processing systems to operate more efficiently, the filing said.
The DNR filing is tied to the Postal Service seeking permission to fill some wetlands at the project site.
The Postal Service in 2008 received city permission for an 820,000-square-foot facility, which was to replace both the Oak Creek and downtown Milwaukee processing centers. But the agency didn’t proceed with those plans because of a lack of funding.
The agency believes the 2008 approvals are sufficient for the revised project. Oak Creek officials say those approvals have expired, and are demanding another public review.
The City of South Milwaukee is joining in those demands, and the common Council passed a resolution last month opposing the project.
We want to make sure your voices are heard on this project … and ours too. We as a city have plenty of questions — from concerns over traffic counts to landscaping — and we want answers. We demand them.
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. The USPS should do the right thing. It’s unfortunate they need to be reminded of that.
I’ll keep you posted … and continue to work to make sure the U.S. Postal Service is held accountable.
South Milwaukee Blog 