U.S. Post Office pushing community mail boxes in new subdivisions

CLIFTON PARK — The free standing mail box at the end of the driveway is going to be just a memory for residents buying homes in new subdivisions.

Postal regulations regarding the delivery of mail to homes in new residential subdivisions in Halfmoon and Clifton Park are already causing problems. The regulations, which are being implemented across the country, require developers to install cluster mail boxes, rather than the more familiar boxes located at the end of each driveway.

Concerns with the regulations have reached the Halfmoon Town Board, Clifton Park Planning Board and the desk of U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko.

In Halfmoon, several new homeowners in one of the town’s newer subdivisions recently asked the Town Board for help when told they would not get end-of-driveway boxes. After a number of phone calls and discussions with the U.S. Postal Service, the homes were allowed the traditional boxes. However, that will not be the case for future subdivisions.

In Clifton Park, the new regulations came up during a Planning Board discussion of the proposed 75-unit Crescent Woods subdivision, 1567 Crescent Road. It was not the first time that board and its Chairman Rocco “Rocky” Ferraro had been confronted with the change.

“I heard about it when we got input from town Planner John Scavo on a subdivision we’d discussed at an earlier meeting,” Ferraro said. “He mentioned that the developers would have to meet with postal officials about the boxes. That raised a lot of unanswered questions with me. Where do the boxes go? Are pull-offs needed? What about snow removal?”

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