PONCHA SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — The only post office in the small town of Poncha Springs closed in October. Since then, residents have had to pick-up and drop-off their mail in neighboring Salida.
As a business owner, Todd Sigmier drops off packages daily. He says traveling 10 miles roundtrip is inconvenient, but it is the lack of communication from the United States Postal Service to residents that he is most frustrated with.
“It is what it is, but if the post office could just be more open, transparent," Sigmier said. "Just communicate with their customers.”
Like all residents, Sigmier relied on the local USPS location and its PO Boxes for all of his mail. He says there were never any rural route USPS carriers to deliver or pick-up mail from homes in Poncha Springs.
USPS says they relocated operations and services to the Salida Post Office, which is five miles from the former Poncha Springs location. According to Sigmier, extra PO Boxes were set up outside the Salida location to accommodate those in Poncha Springs.
Aaron Hanson is the landlord of the property the Poncha Springs Post Office once operated on. He says USPS' lease was set to expire on October 31, 2025 and that he reached out to the agency with a few renewal options.
“One of the options was going to be renewing the lease at a little bit of an increased price. Another options was to build a 1,600 square foot addition to the property to help accept the growing population," Handson said. "We left the third option open for negotiation.”
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Hanson claims USPS failed to communicate.
“We went through many different avenues, including getting state representatives involved to try and reach out to them to get some sort of a response to negotiate," Hanson said. "They just refused to respond.”
A USPS spokesperson shared the following statement with News5:
The Postal Service has secured a new site with a different landowner with plans to build a new and larger facility for the Postal Service. The new lease is approved by the landlord and is being processed for USPS approval.
We began the process of seeking a new, lager location for Poncha Springs more than a year ago due to space constraints of the previous facility. The process started with notice to the mayor and a post card mailed to residents asking for feedback. A letter was also posted to the old Post Office building. Those who responded to the USPS survey overwhelmingly agreed that a new, larger facility was needed for the community.
When designed and construction begins, completion of the new Post Office building can take up to a year. We are excited to bring this new Post Office to Poncha Springs and see it grow into a vibrant hub for the community.
Generally, our goal is to renew existing leases whenever possible and continue serving our communities without interruption. However, we could not reach a reasonable lease agreement with the landowner of the prior building. A previous media report suggested that the Postal Service had limited communication with the former landowner and were offered the “same deal as before”. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Our real estate team made every attempt to negotiate a fair and financially feasible agreement. When that agreement could not be met, the Postal Service relocated operations and services to the Salida Post Office where employees continue to diligently serve both the Salida and Poncha Springs communities.
Hanson says USPS did not reach out to him until a few days before their lease was set to expire.
"The Post Master at that time finally reached out, said that they would be returning our keys," Hanson said. "That's about all we got from them.”
USPS tells News5 a lease for a new, larger Poncha Springs location has been signed. It will be built next to LaGree's Market, across the street from the former post office. USPS says this was the most requested location based on a survey it conducted more than a year ago. This will be a 3,000 square foot facility on TransAmerica Trail set to include an additional store or business inside. Once construction begins, it will take a year to complete.
Email Senior Reporter Meghan Glova at meghan.glova@koaa.com.
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