After a closure of more than two years, the Bolinas post office will reopen by early fall, the U.S. Postal Service said.

The agency has signed a 10-year lease for its former site at 20 Brighton Ave., said E. Patrick Morris, an attorney representing the building’s owner, Gregg Welsh. The post office closed in March 2023 amid a dispute between the Postal Service and Welsh.

During most of the closure, Bolinas residents had to drive a 12-mile round trip to Stinson Beach to pick up their mail. For part of the time, the post office was shifted to Olema, even farther away.

“Can you believe it we did it?” said John Borg, a 27-year resident of Bolinas who led a campaign to restore the post office. “It’s obviously a big relief for us.”

The dispute involved maintenance of the property. According to Morris, the postal agency discovered in 1998 that floor tiles it had installed nearly 40 years earlier contained asbestos that would crumble as it deteriorated. The agency allegedly waited until 2023 to notify Welsh and did not replace the flooring.

Initially, Borg said the idea of bringing the post office back to its former location seemed a nonstarter “because the lease dispute and move out was so contentious.” Nevertheless, a group of residents that included Borg, lawyer Kent Khtikian and real estate agent Tom Wredberg did not give up on the possibility.

“For over a year, we worked on other solutions,” Borg said. “Most prominently, we had a completely viable plan to build an interim postal facility at Mesa Park in Bolinas that would be up at least five years. Ultimately it was rejected by the Postal Service for reasons that were not really clear.”

After that idea fell through, the group focused on mending fences between Welsh and the U.S. Postal Service.

Morris said Khtikian contacted him in March 2024 indicating that he wanted to help restore the post office with the help of U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, whose district includes Marin.

“He asked if Gregg would be willing to sign a five-year lease on the prior lease form for him to present to the Congressman, who in turn would present it to an authorized person from the Postal Service,” Morris wrote in an email.

Welsh did so, and the new lease was presented to the postal agency.

“That new lease was never accepted by USPS with no reason given,” Morris wrote. “Earlier this year, USPS provided a form of lease it claimed was acceptable to it.”

Borg said the federal agency also commissioned two third-party environmental studies of the building to ensure there were no remaining toxic materials, but there were more hurdles to jump.

“It went from the Postal Service’s real estate department to somebody in its budget department and on and on,” Borg said. “It was a bureaucratic black hole. Even Huffman had trouble with the Postal Service.”

When the post office moved out, it removed all of its equipment.

“The counter’s gone. There are no postal boxes, and there are no inside walls,” Borg said. “The shell of the building is there, but it needs to be rebuilt as a post office.”

Kristina Uppal, a Postal Service spokesperson, said, “Before operations resume, the facility must meet rigorous construction standards to ensure a safe, secure and fully functional space for employees and customers while preserving mail integrity.”

Uppal said the restored post office will provide full retail and post office box services.

Borg said the fact that Bolinas was able to convince the mail agency to reopen the downtown office is particularly gratifying at this moment in history.

“For this project’s budget to be approved during the massive federal cutbacks of the Trump administration and amidst the Postal Service’s 10-year austerity program is astonishing,” he said.

Still, Bolinas residents remain somewhat skeptical, and they have kept a sign at the entrance to town indicating the number of days Bolinas has lacked a post office.

“Every day we change the number on that sign,” Borg said. “We’re not taking that sign down until the post office opens.”