BELWOOD ‒ Belwood residents will no longer need to drive to Fergus to pick up their mail.
During a regular council meeting Monday afternoon, Centre Wellington councillors unanimously approved leasing a portion of 8460 Wellington Road 19 for the operation of Belwood's new temporary post office.
The current location of the West Garafraxa Public Works garage, the office portion of the proposed building is also partially utilized for township records storage.
“We’ve been working with representatives of Canada Post for a few months now to establish a temporary post office location for Belwood,” said CAO Dan Wilson, during the meeting. “It's been agreed that our West Garafraxa office is an adequate location."
Mayor Shawn Watters said that he is thankful that “this moved fairly quickly given the nature of the groups we’re dealing with.”
“(It has) obviously been a tough time for folks in Belwood, losing a fixture like the post office,” said Watters, during the meeting. “But we’re hoping this will be a good alternative for them at this time.”
In November 2022, the post office in Belwood became inoperable due to a fire that destroyed the building.
Residents have been picking up their mail from a post office in Fergus since the incident.
“After attending a few town hall meetings in Belwood, this is definitely a good news story,” said Coun. Lisa MacDonald, during the meeting. “People want their post office back.”
Lora McFadden, the Belwood postmaster, is hoping to gain access to the site “immediately after the agreement is signed.”
Her first steps will include erecting signage and preparing for an opening “as soon as possible.”
Canada Post approved the West Garafraxa office site last month despite previous concerns that it's too far from Belwood.
The proposed post office is 3.5 kilometres away from the hamlet, which is a three-minute drive or about a 45-minute walk.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
