Meeting: Will the Olga Store become the Olga Post Office?

— by Susan McBain, Orcas Issues reporter —

Representatives of the USPS Relocation Team spoke to an audience of more than 150 on July 11 to present options for keeping a post office in Olga and to learn about the community’s wishes. USPS will not be signing a new long-term lease with the owners of the current building, which is too small for its use. Two other possibilities remain: installation of a new modular building on land in Olga, and a lease of a renovated, and probably enlarged, Olga Store. The crowd was noisily in favor of the latter.

In something of a bombshell, the recently formed Friends of the Olga Store Building (FOS) announced that they have a verbal contract with the store owner to purchase the historic building. They noted that they “have a big matching grant forthcoming, and a couple of long term loan offers” that could help make the purchase possible. A signed contract and written business plan are expected soon. Save Our Post Office, an earlier group that did a survey of community support for the post office, received $103,000 in pledges and asked audience members to transfer their pledges to the new group.

But FOS will need both more donations and participation from the community to make it happen. They estimate the total funds needed will be up to $1,050,000, including purchase of the building and upgrades to make the space usable. They foresee the post office, a small residential rental unit, and possibly a co-op bakery or café as the tenants of the building.

“The Artworks is the model for how this can be done,” said FOR member Selby Lighthill. FOS will file for federal status (510[c]3) as a nonprofit, which will let them receive tax-deductible donations. The nonprofit will purchase and hold the property for the community and act as landlord. They plan to ask the Orcas Island Community Foundation to act as their financial umbrella organization.

County Council member Rick Hughes attended the meeting and said the County is in full support of the effort. He offered to arrange a planning meeting with the County right away to expedite permitting and other requirements, and to work with law enforcement on any issues that might arise, such as traffic.

USPS will continue to gather suggestions and input for 30 days, after which they have to decide whether to move forward. They must be sure the purchase is a certainty before they can commit to leasing space at the Olga Store. But they expressed willingness to work cooperatively with the community on either option to be sure it meets community desires as much as possible.

The timeline for finalizing the agreement and raising the funds is short. The current lease ends in October, although USPS would like to extend it for a short period while a transition is underway. To stay up to date on developments, visit the FOS website, www.theolgastore.org, and sign up for the group’s newsletter.