ALISO VIEJO, CA  —  The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced today that it plans to sell the 25 acres of undeveloped, commercially-zoned land it owns on Liberty in Aliso Viejo, CA. The agency recently determined it foresees no future use for the land.

The Liberty site was purchased by the Postal Service in 1991 in accordance with the overall plan for the development of the Aliso Viejo Planned Community, for the primary purpose of building and operating a mail processing facility, as cited on the Postal Service’s Grant Deed.

At the time the property was purchased, the Postal Service paid over $2.2 million in development fees for the Aliso Viejo Planned Community, above and beyond the appraised fair market value of the land. These development fees included $1.12 million for Aliso Viejo roadways, $728,000 towards local facilities such as school district improvements, and $400,000 community association in-lieu fees.

The Postal Service had begun plans to build a mail processing facility on the property in 2007, but stopped the project early in 2009 when the national economic recession hit and mail volume plummeted, creating a significant impact on USPS finances. The Postal Service does not receive tax dollars to cover its facility and operational costs, but relies on revenue generated from the sale of postage and USPS products and services.

Aliso Viejo is served by the Laguna Beach Post Office for delivery of mail and retail service.

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $67 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 29th in the 2010 Fortune 500. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency six consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.