Vail eyes redevelopment of post office amid housing crisis

The town of Vail is open to exploring a partnership with the United States Postal Service to work on solutions for the sustained local housing crisis.

In a letter approved by the Vail Town Council on Tuesday, Nov. 15, the town of Vail requested a meeting “to explore mutually beneficial partnership opportunities with the United States Postal Service to address the need for year-round and seasonal homes for residents within our communities.”

The letter is signed not only by Vail Mayor Kim Langmaid but also by the mayors from the towns of Frisco and Dillon in neighboring Summit County.

George Ruther, Vail’s housing director, said that the decision to partner with these two municipalities was that they shared similar situations and opportunities.

“It seems we all have USPS facilities in our communities that may be in need of improvements and we all have a growing need for housing,” Ruther added.

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Specifically, the letter states that the Vail, Frisco and Dillon post office locations each “may have the potential to be redeveloped.”

“Any potential redevelopment opportunity is likely to not only result in new, state-of-the-art facilities for the Postal Service but also achieve a shared objective of providing affordable homes for the Postal Service employees,” the letter reads.

Vail’s post office was initially built and used as a regional distribution center. However, the location no longer serves that function, meaning that the building’s large footprint isn’t providing the same volume of services it used to.

Not only is this opportunity of a too-large post office distinct in Eagle County, since many other locations cite the opposite challenge of being too small in growing communities, but Vail is unique in that the majority of the town’s mail delivery is serviced to centralized delivery boxes.

In addition to the letter making the meeting request, Ruther said that the towns are also working with U.s. Rep. Joe Neguse’s office to convene the exploratory meeting. Neguse’s office has taken an active role throughout the year in setting meetings between Colorado’s mountain towns and the federal agency, including regional meetings at the start of 2022 and more recently, individualized ones as well.

And while the post office is located in close proximity to the town’s Timber Ridge housing development — which is currently in the beginning stages of redevelopment to increase workforce housing — Ruther said “the USPS property is not being considered into any land planning happening with the redevelopment at this time.”

However, this is not the first time the town has sought a meeting on this topic with the Postal Service. In October, Ruther confirmed that the town had reached out to the Vail Post Office directly to discuss the location’s future programming needs.

Ruther, at that time, said the hope was to gain information and “collaborate on solutions that meet the needs of the Vail Post Office and the citizens of the Vail community, including better overall utilization of the site.”

However, the town has continued to pursue a meeting as the local community continues to battle the local housing crisis.

“Historically high residential homes prices, growth in popularity of short-term rental, rapidly rising costs of construction, heightened competition for a limited workforce, and a shortage of developable land to deliver new homes are all factors contributing to creating the ‘perfect storm’ that is our current housing crisis,” the letter reads.

On Wednesday, Ruther said that “the catalyst for the conversation is the town’s desire to seek out creative partnership opportunities to bring forward innovative housing solutions for the Vail community.”

Ruther added that these housing challenges are not unknown to the Postal Service either.

“Similarly, like so many other employers in our communities, the USPS is also challenged by staffing shortages due to the lack of housing availability,” he said.

James Boxrud, the regional spokesperson for the United States Postal Service, said that staffing challenges have persisted for many months across the agency; not just its mountain resort communities including Eagle County.

“For many months, we have been aggressively seeking both clerks and carriers to stabilize our workforce,” he added. “The advent of the pandemic, the increase of consumer use of ordering necessities online, and the national employment challenges have exacerbated this for many communities. Cost of living is also a challenge for Colorado resort communities.”

Within Eagle County, many open positions remain, including two city carrier associates in Vail, one vacancy in Eagle, one clerk in Avon, three clerks in Gypsum, and five clerks in Edwards, Boxrud reported.

“In those areas where we aren’t fully staffed, we will continue flexing our available resources, maximizing our local personnel and augmenting from the surrounding region to help with the workload. We are proud of the efforts of postal employees in Colorado and the nation, as they define essential public service every day,” he said.

Boxrud added that the agency continues to actively hire across the state and in mountain communities, with all available openings available for applications at USPS.com/careers.