The Baxter Planning Commission considering a requirement for developers to install cluster mailboxes for all new subdivisions.
Staff Planner Tommy Lee said that the change is necessary because the postal service has stopped delivering to individual curbside boxes on newly constructed streets.
“Just a little bit of history, this is something that it was kind of forced onto us by the United States Postal Service a few years ago,” Lee said. “They had basically said that they are not going to be going down new streets and delivering boxes to individual boxes on new road construction.”
Under the proposal, developers must install Cluster Box Units for any new public or private roads unless they receive a written waiver from the post office. Lee said the location of these units must be approved by the local postmaster prior to the submission of the final plat.
“All units must be USPS-approved, type four C, pedestal-mounted CBU user equivalent,” Lee said. “Units must be mounted on a reinforced concrete pad per manufacturer and USPS specifications.”
The board discussed maintenance responsibilities, determining that the city would not be liable for the boxes and that upkeep would fall to homeowners associations or the residents themselves.
“Because what happened to us, you know, people have been there without those for over a year,” Resident Kelly Porch said. “And he said it, he would have it up by January one. Well, the thirtieth of December, it was up, but we didn’t get the keys until, I think, the second week in January.”
The commission decided to delay voting on the mailbox amendment to allow staff to investigate lighting requirements
The meeting concluded with a discussion on political signs appearing earlier than the city’s ordinance allows, prompting Code Enforcement Officer Bob Lane to suggest coordinating with neighboring municipalities to create uniform timeframes.
“Let me talk to the other municipalities and see if we can’t come up with a figure that everybody’s good with, that some guy don’t go and put one up, and they got a sixty-day deal, and ours is forty-five,” Lane said.