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Utah mayor and lawmaker urge transfer of 20 acres to USPS for new Saratoga Springs post office
Summary
Representative Owens and Mayor Chris K told the subcommittee that HR4716 would transfer about 20 acres of BLM land to the U.S. Postal Service and require construction of a post office within two years to address service gaps affecting more than 200,000 residents in northwest Utah County.
Representative Burgess Owens and Saratoga Springs Mayor Chris K told the House Natural Resources Subcommittee the region’s fast growth has overwhelmed existing postal infrastructure and that HR4716 would create a path to a new post office.
Representative Owens described HR4716 as a land-transfer bill that would move roughly 20 acres of Bureau of Land Management property to the U.S. Postal Service to allow construction of a post office in Saratoga Springs. "Our constituents living in these cities deserve better access to mail and mail services," Owens told the panel and said the bill requires USPS to construct and operate a facility on the transferred land within two years.
Mayor Chris K said Saratoga Springs grew from about 8,000 residents in 2005 to more than 70,000 today and that the combined population of Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain and Lehi now exceeds roughly 227,000 residents. He told members the nearest facility in Lehi serves a 100‑square‑mile area "and operates with only four retail windows" while processing "more than 1.7 million parcels annually with a single dock door." The mayor said the Lehi office is operating at "130% over capacity," that residents make an average of 6.6 visits per household to the post office each year with an average trip of about 70 minutes, and that these service constraints impose travel time and economic costs on households and businesses.
Members pressed for implementation details. Mayor K said he had not had immediate conversations with USPS leadership and could not confirm whether the postal service would begin construction absent the transfer; Representative Owens noted the bill includes a requirement that USPS begin operations on the transferred land. The mayor and Owens offered a regional estimate that current travel and service gaps translate into millions of miles driven per year and several million dollars in economic impact.
The panel agreed to accept written follow-up questions and held the hearing record open. No formal vote occurred at the hearing; witnesses and members said final decisions on land transfer and construction will depend on USPS planning and funding.
