SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. - Chinchilla Post Office officials aren't budging on the township's request to bring the property into compliance with an ordinance, so supervisors are calling on the land owner to solve the problem.
At Monday night's South Abington Twp. supervisors meeting, township manager David O'Neill said officials from the U.S. Postal Service are claiming they are exempt from a township ordinance that calls for certain landscaping upgrades when a building is renovated.
The U.S. Postal Service has been leasing space on the first floor of the McCarthy Flowers building at Shady Lane and Northern Boulevard in South Abington Twp. since 2008. In the past couple years, major renovations to the building were made to accommodate the post office, although for now the post office is still located in a trailer across the street.
"If a building is renovated, changed or modified, they (officials) are obliged to put in certain curbage, parking spaces and drainage facilities," Supervisor Giles Stanton said. "They are telling us, 'No, we aren't going to do it. The federal government doesn't have to recognize township ordinances.' "
Supervisors have fired back, arguing its a multi-use building, and, therefore, it affects the other tenants as well, who aren't exempt.
In the meantime, though, supervisors said they will meet with the property owner to discuss their "plan" for what needs to be done to bring the property into compliance.
However, nothing is guaranteed, Mr. O'Neill cautioned.
"He can do it," Mr. O'Neill said. "But that costs him money, so we may have to negotiate.
"It's something that needs to be addressed, though. There is a little pond of water forming behind the building. It's starting to become a safety issue."
County records show the building is owned by "BRIAN MCCARTHY FAMILY LM PARTN." Efforts to reach Mr. McCarthy were unsuccessful.
Contact the writer: miorfino@timesshamrock.com, @miorfinoTT on Twitter