POST OFFICE DEMOLITION DELAYED, CURRENT SITE STAYS OPEN LONGER

The Maplewood Village Post Office will remain open through November, according to Mayor Vic De Luca, who said demolition of the building to make way for the new retail-housing complex will not be done until January 2015.

During Tuesday's Township Committee meeting, De Luca offeed a lenghy update of the project, which had been due to begin this summer, but he said the township had asked to delay demolition so that it would not interrupt the Halloween and holiday shopping seasons at the end of 2014.

He reminded residents that the Maplewood Village Alliance Board had approved the latest redevelopment plan, which can be found HERE.

"It is subject to some more design approvals," the mayor said, later adding, "the developers are now moving to the next stage which is to go before the planning board and that will take place some time in either late June or July."

That means demolition of the existing post office site would begin in January 2015, and it would remain open until Nov. 15, 2014.

195 Maplewood Ave.

The postal service had previously announced it would relocate all retail operations to a location just a few blocks away in Maplewood Village, at 195 Maplewood Ave. "We should have a seamless transition," the mayor said.

De Luca stressed that postal carriers will work out of a Union, N.J. site where mail will originate for Maplewood. He added that mail delivery vehicles and carriers would not create traffic or other congestion at the new location in Maplewood Village.

"We requested that a retail postal facility remain on Maplewood Avenue and we did get that," De Luca said. "It is not the town's intention to change any parking on Lenox Place, the parking that is there now will continue."

He urged residents with concerns to contact the postal service.

"The good news here is that the postal service will continue in Maplewood Village," the mayor said.