Bolinas is poised to get its post office back.
The United States Postal Service and the owner of the Waterhouse Building have signed a 10-year lease that will return the post office to its former location at 20 Brighton Avenue, where it operated for more than half a century before shuttering two years ago.
The office is expected to reopen by the end of summer, after renovations are complete and equipment is reinstalled.
The move may come at an unlikely time, with the Trump administration continuing a frenzy of federal cuts. But it comes none too soon for Bolinas residents, whose long campaign to revive their tiny post office proved triumphant in the end.
As soon as he heard the news, John Borg, who helped lead the effort, penned a jubilant missive to community members that began with three simple words: “We did it!”
The new lease, signed on April 17, caps a lobbying effort by locals who have been schlepping alternately to Stinson Beach and Olema to pick up their mail for more than two years. Their efforts withstood many twists and turns—including the election of President Trump, who has mused about privatizing the postal service—that at various points boosted and dashed their spirits.
“It’s shocking that this happened with all the stuff going on with our government right now,” said Mr. Borg, whose barn served as a sort of war room for the campaign. “But in these dark and divisive days, with all the cuts and chaos, even a small town like ours can get results if it bands together and sticks with it.”
The agreement left community members feeling both elated and exhausted.
“My reaction is a deep sigh of relief,” said Kent Khtikian, who helped facilitate the new lease. “There are many threads that make up the warp and weave of a community, and the post office is one of the places where those threads are created and strengthened. You never know who you might run into there and fall into a pleasant conversation with. Those human interactions bring us all together.”
The Bolinas Post Office closed on March 3, 2023, after months of contentious lease renewal negotiations between postal officials and Gregg Welsh, the Santa Barbara dentist who owns the partially derelict Waterhouse complex downtown.
The disagreement centered on floor tiles installed by the post office decades ago that contained asbestos, and for much of 2023, talks dragged on while the postal service operated on a month-to-month lease. Then discussions unraveled completely.
With just two weeks’ notice, the postal service informed residents that they would have to pick up their mail in Olema, a 40-minute round trip along a winding stretch of Highway 1. The tiny Olema Post Office is subject to regular flooding in the rainy season, when the rutted parking lot becomes slick with mud and pocked with puddles.
Indeed, within a week after the relocation of mail from Bolinas, the Olema office flooded. Residents were then directed to pick up their mail in Stinson Beach, where there was less space for their packages and employees sorted them on outdoor tables exposed to the elements. Without their own mailboxes, Bolinas customers had to wait in line for pickup. Confusion ensued and frustration grew.
Last September, residents were told once again to pick up their mail in Olema. When the office flooded yet again—just before the Christmas holiday—customers were instructed to resume pickup at the overburdened Stinson Beach office.
Their spirits sagged, but community activists persisted. They had banded together and begun organizing as soon as the 2023 closure was announced, working every lever they could to keep mail service in town. They formed a Save Our Bolinas Post Office Committee and gave regular reports to the newly formed Bolinas Civic Group, a nonprofit that promotes citizen engagement on issues of community concern. They organized protests and launched an intensive letter-writing campaign, churning out more than 2,000 handwritten letters, many containing poems, drawings or some other artistic touch.
The group rallied local officials to their cause, including Supervisor Dennis Rodoni and Representative Jared Huffman, who pressured regional and national postal officials to return mail service to town.
“We put a lot of really good, positive community energy and engagement into this,” Mr. Borg said. “It was really a very collective effort.”
From the outset, the prospect of finding a new permanent location looked dim. Bolinas has strict limits on new water connections, and developable property is scarce and expensive. Some residents even wondered if local postal officials were working against them, not for them.
Dr. Aenor Sawyer, attorney Melinda Griffith and architect Steve Matson headed up a team focused on finding a temporary location and designed plans for an interim office next to the fire station on Mesa Road. They researched post office design requirements and drew up detailed architectural plans. Rep. Huffman endorsed their 12-page proposal and sent it to Louis Dejoy, then the top U.S. postal official.
While drafting the plan, the team conferred closely with postal service architects, who seemed to back their efforts at first but then went mysteriously silent.
Months after that effort stalled, a different team of residents led by Mr. Khtikian and realtor Tom Wredberg approached Mr. Welsh, encouraging him to take another crack at renegotiating the Brighton Avenue lease. He agreed, saying he had been moved by the activism and was concerned about the impacts of the ongoing closure.
In March 2024, Mr. Welsh signed a new lease that offered the post office essentially the same terms as the old one. Activists’ spirits soared as a resolution seemed near, and Mr. Khtikian gave an upbeat report to the Bolinas Civic Group, predicting the postal service would soon agree to terms.
His optimism proved premature.
“Everything ground to a halt, and what was going on was not at all visible,” Mr. Khtikian said. “Nothing was moving forward, and it was inexplicable.”
Because the postal service had gutted the Brighton Avenue facility after the original lease fell apart, a new round of architectural and environmental reviews was required, leading to more delays. Meanwhile, the postal service had changed its standard lease template.
E. Patrick Morris, Mr. Welsh’s attorney, said his client made significant financial concessions to bring the final agreement about and had been willing to do so for a long time.
“From the owner’s perspective, the vast majority of the multi-year delay was merely due to non-responsiveness from the U.S.P.S.,” Mr. Morris told the Light.
For his part, Mr. Khtikian credited the intensive community support, as well as backing from local officials, for bringing about a successful conclusion to a saga that sometimes seemed headed toward an unhappy end.
“There was a point at which I believed that we were being played,” Mr. Khtikian said. “There were times when what was going on was hidden in a black box somewhere in Washington, beyond anyone’s view.”
Among those bewildered by the long journey was Mr. Rodoni.
“Like so many residents, my office is pleased to finally have a positive conclusion, while at the same time scratching our heads over why it has taken so long,” he told the Light.
Postal service officials insist they never intended to permanently close the Bolinas facility.
“I will emphasize again that it has always been our intention to maintain a post office in Bolinas,” said Kristina Uppal, the regional spokeswoman for the United States Postal Service. “The postal service has been equally eager to provide consistency and normalcy for our customers and our employees.”
Mr. Huffman credited the U.S.P.S. for coming through in the end but agreed that the resolution took far too long.
“Bolinas is a tightknit community comprised of smart people who united around practical solutions, persevering to make sure their town has a post office,” he said. “I look forward to celebrating with them when it reopens and congratulating them in person.”
Over the past two years, a sign at the entrance to town has tracked the number of days the post office had been closed—775 by the time the new lease was signed.
The next day, Mr. Borg updated the sign with a new count: “About 120 days until the post office opens.”