The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995               TAG: 9510200173
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON    PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   72 lines

POST OFFICE STAMPED EXPRESS THE PRINCESS ANNE BRANCH WILL BE GETTING A NEW HOME FOUR YEARS SOONER THAN EXPECTED.

The Princess Anne post office will be getting a new home four years sooner than expected.

Originally scheduled for 1999, plans began this week to replace the building in which 50 employees toil in a space built to accommodate eight.

``It is clear that the situation has now reached a crisis point,'' Congressman Owen Pickett wrote to U.S. Postmaster General Marvin Runyon, pleading for a more speedy replacement.

Last week, Runyon gave Virginia Beach Postmaster Donald T. Coats permission to start working on a design immediately and begin searching for a site after the first of the year.

``This was a nice surprise for us,'' said Fran Sansome, customer relations coordinator for Virginia Beach. ``We didn't expect anything to happen before the year 2000.''

Located on Princess Anne Road near the Municipal Center, the facility services the 23456 ZIP code, which includes city offices plus portions of the Holland, Kempsville, Courthouse, Sandbridge, Pungo and Blackwater areas of the city.

It's the fastest growing ZIP code in the city. Its population was 62,300 in 1988 and 94,700 in 1995. It's estimated to reach 146,000 in 2015.

The city government alone pumps more mail through the facility today than the entire ZIP code did when the building was constructed in 1970.

The working conditions are so cramped that trays of mail must be moved in order to walk through the work space, Sansome said.

``We have volumes of mail and very little room to move around,'' Sansome said.

But it's not just the interior of the facility that's lacking. Customer parking is limited, which sometimes results in lines backing out onto busy Princess Anne Road, creating a traffic hazard.

News of the revised replacement schedule reached Virginia Beach last week, so few details have been worked out.

For example, it is not clear where the new postal facility will be located within the ZIP code.

Residents who now live in Sandbridge or Pungo, 10 miles or more from the current location, have complained about the distance.

``We have not considered where to put it yet,'' Sansome said. ``We've heard the complaints from people who have to travel so far. No matter where you put it, someone will have to travel.''

Cost figures for the project are unknown because postal officials are now just starting the design plans.

The new facility will be designed to house automated equipment to sort the mail more rapidly.

This equipment, requiring two employees, will sort 32,000 letters an hour. Carriers now sort much of the mail by hand, at 600 letters an hour. Some mail is sorted mechanically at 8,000 letters an hour with 12 to 18 employees manning the machine.

``They've been trying to get this since 1989,'' said Morris Rowe, a spokesman for Pickett's office. ``The timetable has really been speeded up on this. It's a real coup to see this thing finally come to pass.''

Postal officials hope to purchase land for the facility next year and start construction before the end of the calendar year. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo\ by STEVE EARLEY

Mail carriers Loreto Maglinao, left, Michael Montesa and Walt

Whiteside sort mail in the back of the Princess Anne post office.

Working conditions are so cramped that trays of mail must be moved

in order to walk through the work space.

by CNB