[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 6, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 36960-36962]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11896]


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POSTAL SERVICE

39 CFR Part 241


Relocating Retail Services; Adding New Retail Service Facilities

AGENCY: Postal ServiceTM

ACTION: Interim final rule.

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SUMMARY: This interim rule revises regulations concerning public 
notification and solicitation of comments regarding the relocation or 
addition of retail service facilities. It establishes written notice as 
the standard method for notifying the public of plans to add or 
relocate a retail service facility, rather than in-person meetings. In 
addition, the interim rule revises the scope of relocations subject to 
public notice and solicitation of community comments to exclude 
relocations within a single development of buildings that share access 
points from a public right of way. The interim rule also removes a 
duplicative requirement to inform the community of potential 
construction when adding a retail service facility and makes minor 
technical changes.

DATES: Effective June 6, 2023. Comments must be received by August 7, 
2023.

ADDRESSES: Please submit written comments by email to [email protected], 
with the subject heading ``241.4 Rulemaking,'' or by mail to Joseph B. 
Fray, United States Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Room 6127, 
Washington, DC 20260-1127.
    All submitted comments and attachments are part of the public 
record and subject to disclosure. Do not enclose any material in your 
comments that you consider to be confidential or inappropriate for 
public disclosure. You may inspect and photocopy all written comments, 
by appointment only, at USPS[supreg] Headquarters Library, 475 L'Enfant 
Plaza SW, 11th Floor North, Washington, DC 20260. These records are 
available for review on Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., by 
calling 202-268-2906.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David P. Rouse, Director of Real 
Estate & Assets, United States Postal Service, at 
[email protected], (202) 210-3559.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When the Postal Service makes a tentative 
decision to relocate all retail services from a retail service facility 
to a separate physical building, or to add a new retail service 
facility for a community, it provides advance notification to the 
community and solicits community comments. 39 CFR 241.4(a)(1). The 
Postal Service considers community comments before reaching a final 
decision to proceed with, modify, or cancel the proposed relocation or 
addition. Id. 241.4(c)(4). Exceptions to the general notification 
requirement apply to certain temporary or emergency relocations. 39 CFR 
241.4(a)(2). The purpose of the regulation is to notify members of the 
community and their elected officials of retail service facility 
relocations and additions, and to provide them the opportunity to 
comment on why the Postal Service's tentative decision and proposal may 
not be the optimal solution for the Postal Service's identified need. 
39 CFR 241.4(c)(4). To obtain this community input, prior to the 
exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Postal Service 
notified the community through a news release and a public 
presentation, either as part of the agenda at a regularly scheduled 
public meeting of local officials or at a separately scheduled Postal 
Service public meeting addressing the proposal. 39 CFR 241.4(c)(2). The 
regulation presently allows for an alternate method of notifying the 
community under exceptional circumstances that would prevent a Postal 
Service representative from attending or conducting a public meeting . 
. . the Postal Service, in lieu of a public meeting, will mail written 
notification of the tentative decision and the proposal to customers 
within the community . . . seeking their written input on the proposal 
and providing an address to which the community and local officials may 
send written appeals of the tentative decision and comments on the 
proposal. 39 CFR 241.4(c)(3).
    During the effectiveness of the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services' Determination of a Public Health Emergency related to COVID-
19, the Postal Service has mailed postcards to communities affected by 
relocations and additions of retail service facilities to provide 
notice and solicit comments, rather than holding public meetings. This 
written notification proved to be a more effective means of 
communicating and provided community members with a more accessible 
method of providing comments. Because written notification and 
solicitation of comments more effectively and accessibly engages

[[Page 36961]]

members of affected communities than do public meetings, the Postal 
Service, through this interim rule, establishes written notification as 
the standard method of soliciting community comments for all subject 
relocations and additions, rather than just under the exceptional 
circumstances set forth in 39 CFR 241.4(c)(3).
    In addition, the interim rule clarifies the scope of relocations 
subject to the notification requirement in a manner that excludes a 
move within a single development, such as among storefronts within a 
single shopping center, because such relocations have a de minimis 
effect on the availability of retail services in a community. Paragraph 
(c)(3)(ii)(A)(4) required that, as part of this process, the Postal 
Service inform the community of any construction that may be necessary 
when a retail service facility is added. Because the Postal Service is 
already required to inform the community of any decisions to undertake 
construction pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 409(f), this requirement was also 
deleted to avoid duplicating efforts. Finally, minor technical 
amendments were made to the language of the regulation.
    The interim rule will benefit the Postal Service and the public in 
general. It will reduce burdens on the Postal Service and the public by 
recognizing that relocations of retail service facilities within a 
single development are not relocations that would materially affect 
communities. In addition, where relocation decisions would benefit from 
community input, the modified regulation will provide improved notice 
to the public and an easier and more accessible means of receiving 
community input.
    This interim rule reflects the procedures in place since 2020 for 
notifying communities of retail service facility relocations and 
additions, and imposes no burden on members of the public; therefore, 
it is effective immediately.
    Although exempted by 39 U.S.C. 410(a) from the advance notice 
requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act regarding proposed 
rulemaking (5 U.S.C. 553), the Postal Service invites public comment at 
the above address and will consider any comments received before 
issuing a final rule.

List of Subjects in 39 CFR Part 241

    Organization and functions (Government agencies).

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Postal Service amends 
39 CFR part 241 as set forth below:

PART 241--ESTABLISHMENT CLASSIFICATION, AND DISCTONUANCE

0
1. The authority citation for 39 CFR part 241 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority:  39 U.S.C. 101, 401, 403, 404, 410, 1001.


0
2. Amend Sec.  241.4 by:
0
a. Revising paragraphs (a)(1), (a)(2) introductory text, and (a)(2)(i);
0
b. Adding paragraphs (a)(2)(iv) and (v);
0
c. Revising the first sentence of paragraph (a)(3);
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d. Revising paragraphs (b), (c)(2), (c)(3) introductory text, 
(c)(3)(ii)(A)(2) and (3), and (c)(3)(ii)(B);
0
e. Removing paragraph (c)(3)(ii)(A)(4);
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f. Revising the heading and first sentence of paragraph (c)(4); and
0
g. Revising paragraph (c)(5).
    The revisions and additions read as follows:


Sec.  241.4  Relocating retail services; adding new retail service 
facilities.

    (a) * * *
    (1) Except as otherwise provided, this section applies when the 
Postal Service makes a tentative decision to relocate all retail 
services from a retail service facility to a separate physical 
building, or to add a new retail service facility for a community. As 
used in this section, ``retail services'' means the single-piece mail 
services offered to individual members of the public on a walk-in 
basis, and a ``retail service facility'' is a physical building where 
Postal Service employees provide such retail services.
    (2) This paragraph (a)(2) applies to temporary additions of retail 
service or relocations of retail service facilities, emergency 
relocations of retail services, provisional relocations of retail 
services, and relocations of retail services within the same 
development or following redevelopment of a site.
    (i) The Postal Service may implement temporary additions of retail 
service or relocations of retail service facilities without undertaking 
the process in paragraph (c) of this section when necessary to support 
Postal Service business for holidays, special events, or overflow 
business. Temporary additions of retail service and relocations of 
retail service facilities normally will be limited to 180 days in 
duration. Any additional incremental time periods of up to 180 days 
each must be approved by the Vice President, Facilities or his 
designee.
* * * * *
    (iv) The Postal Service may implement relocations without 
undertaking the process in paragraph (c) of this section when the new 
retail service facility is within the same development as the relocated 
retail service facility. As used in this section, ``development'' means 
one or more commercial or mixed-use buildings that share an access 
point or points from a public right-of-way.
    (v) The Postal Service may implement relocations without 
undertaking the process in paragraph (c) of this section when the 
relocated retail service facility is within the same site following the 
redevelopment of the building or development in which the relocated 
retail service facility was located.
    (3) This section applies to tentative decisions described in 
paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section made on or after June 6, 
2023. * * *
    (b) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to provide 
opportunities for community members and their elected local officials 
to comment on Postal Service tentative decisions described in 
paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section and to give input on 
proposals for implementing those decisions (each a ``proposal''), and 
to require the Postal Service to consider any input in arriving at 
final decisions to proceed with, modify, or cancel proposals.
    (c) * * *
    (2) Notify the community. The Postal Service will send an initial 
news release outlining the proposal to one or more news media serving 
the community and, if the community has a retail service facility, then 
the Postal Service also will post a copy of the information given to 
local officials or the news release in the public lobby of that retail 
service facility. If the proposal concerns relocating retail services 
from a leased facility, then, using the most current notice address 
information in the Postal Service's file for the site, the Postal 
Service will deliver to the lessor a copy of the information given to 
local officials, provided, however, that no such notice will be 
required when the lessor has terminated the Postal Service's lease or 
has declined to renew the Postal Service lease on terms acceptable to 
the Postal Service.
    (3) Solicit comments from the community. The Postal Service will 
mail written notification of the tentative decision and the proposal to 
customers within the community and post a notice of the proposal in the 
retail service facility that would be affected by the proposal, seeking 
their written input on the proposal and providing an address to which 
the community and local officials may send written comments on the 
proposal during the 45 days

[[Page 36962]]

following the mailing of that notification.
* * * * *
    (ii)(A) * * *
    (2) Identify the site or area, or both, to which the Postal Service 
anticipates adding the retail service facility; and
    (3) Describe the anticipated size of the added retail service 
facility, and the anticipated services to be offered.
* * * * *
    (B) The Postal Service may identify more than one potential site 
and/or area, for example, when the Postal Service has not selected yet 
among competing sites.
    (4) Consider comments. After the 45-day comment period, the Postal 
Service will consider the comments received that identify reasons why 
the Postal Service's tentative decision and proposal (e.g., to relocate 
to the selected site, or to add a new retail service facility) is, or 
is not, the optimal solution for the identified need. * * *
    (5) Identify any new site or area. After the written notification 
under paragraph (c)(3) of this section, if the Postal Service decides 
to use a site or area that it did not identify in the written 
notification, and this section applies with respect to that new site or 
area, then the Postal Service will undertake the steps in paragraphs 
(c)(2) through (4) of this section with regard to the new site or area.
* * * * *

Tram T. Pham,
Attorney, Ethics and Legal Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2023-11896 Filed 6-5-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-12-P