Groundwork is under way at the site of the new post office, a 5,000-square-foot building at the northeast corner of 155th and Elm streets, about a quarter-mile south of the existing post office.

“We’re excited,” Basehor postmaster Jo Rundus said. “This is the last Christmas we’re going to have to spend here.”

Meanwhile, plans for a new post office in Tonganoxie remain on hold. In early September, the U.S. Postal Service in Englewood, Colo., sent a letter to the Tonganoxie postmaster, saying the postal service was conducting an operational review on all new postal service projects. For the past three months, the project has been stalled.

“We’ve still heard nothing at all,” Tonganoxie Postmaster Ron Hubbard said Monday.

The stop in operations came amid extensive discussions in Tonganoxie about where the city’s new post office would be built.

From four possible sites, the postal service chose a two-acre tract just north of the county annex and city water tower on U.S. Highway 24-40.

During city council meetings, the city council and some citizens voiced opposition to the proposed site, saying they preferred the post office be constructed closer to downtown.

Like Tonganoxie, building a new post office in Basehor is the U.S. Postal Service’s answer to serving a growing community and the subsequent increase in mail volume.

The current Basehor post office, a 1,000-square-foot building at 2636 N. 155th St., had become ill-equipped for postal operations, Rundus said.

Earlier this year, the post office added a fourth route to keep up with rapid growth in the community.

“The growth was happening so fast that the three routes we had in here wasn’t enough,” Rundus said. “It was just too much.

“We were cramped in here before. … Now, it’s really, really cramped.”

Rundus said the postal service is hoping to be in its new building by spring. However, an official opening date is not yet finalized, and completion of the building will depend on how well the weather cooperates, she added.

Postal service representatives had explored several new locations for the Basehor office in recent years. The new location conforms with the preference of the Basehor City Council, which in 2003 informed the postal service that it would like the new facility to be near the city’s downtown district.