Local News in Brief : Postal Service Scraps Cluster Mail-Delivery Plan in Sylmar

The U.S. Postal Service has agreed to provide curb service for several Sylmar homeowners who learned recently that the builder of their homes signed a contract allowing their mail to be dropped at stations around their 42-home development.

After interviewing residents of the 42-home Mission Glen development over the weekend, postal officials decided not to pursue their plan to build several clustered mail delivery and pickup stations, postal spokesman Joseph Breckenridge said.

The Postal Service encourages the use of clustered delivery in new developments to cut costs, Breckenridge said. The annual cost of clustered delivery is $53 per house, compared with $83 for curb service, he said.

But the first few residents to move into Mission Glen, a development near Rinaldi Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard, protested when they were told that they would not be able to receive mail in the boxes many of them bought and put up beside their curbs.

Residents said they turned away a construction worker who showed up last week to install the first of the clustered delivery stations.

They also complained to their congressman, Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), whose office pressed the Postal Service for a quick resolution, a spokeswoman said.

Because construction is in progress, daily delivery has not begun in the neighborhood, Breckenridge said. He estimated that it will begin in about two weeks.

In the meantime, residents may pick up their mail at the Mission City Annex in Mission Hills, he said.