The new University branch post office will be located outside the campus as the result of action taken by the Campus Planning Commission, J. Orville Lindstrom, University business manager said Tuesday.
The federal government is expected to build the new branch east of Villard Street outside the campus boundary, said Lindstrom, with a substation located in the Student Union.
LINDSTROM said that the Commission decided at their last meeting not to allow the post office to move from the SU to the site at 13th and Columbia St. as previously proposed. The decision has been approved by University President Arthur S. Flemming.
It was planned earlier for the post office to move to a one-story building on the east side of the campus by July 1, 1963, when the present lease in the SU expires. The new building was to have been constructed by the State Board of Higher Education and rented to the Post Office Department.
The post office has been located in the SU since 1950 but the space is reportedly inadequate and larger quarters are needed.
LINDSTROM said, “the Campus Planning Commission felt the 13th and Columbia site should remain open for an eastern approach for the new administration building.”
This action is in accordance with a plan for future University campus development prepared by Lawrence Lackey and Associates., a community planning firm. The plan proposes building a 5-story administration building at 13th and Agate St. and making that area the main entrance to the campus.
THE TRAFFIC problem was another reason for the change, said Lindstrom. The commission thought it was “unwise” to have the post office on the campus since it would draw townspeople as well as members of the University community.
The commission will have no part in the location now, said Lindstrom, since it will be outside campus boundaries.