The Santa Maria Field Office for the California Department of Motor Vehicles will close at 5 p.m. Friday for approximately six weeks. 

Closure of the old office at 523 S. McClelland St. will come as the state agency’s move into a new building at 2850 Santa Maria Way. 

Santa Maria Field Office operations will resume at the new site starting at 8 a.m. Aug. 1, according to DMV officials, who also warned the opening date could change.

An Aug. 1 opening is a few weeks later than the initial mid-July option DMV officials provided in mid-May.

During the relocation process, customers of the Santa Maria office can visit other area offices including in:

• Lompoc at 1601 North H St. (25 miles from the current Santa Maria office)

• San Luis Obispo at 3190 S. Higuera St. (31 miles from the current Santa Maria office)

Other field offices are located in Goleta at 7127 Hollister Ave., Suite24/26, and in Santa Barbara at 535 Castillo St.

DMV representatives suggested customers use the online services, by clicking here, or other avenues including kiosks. 

In the Santa Maria Valley, DMV kiosks can be found at Albertsons, 2320 S. Broadway, and Foods Co., 1465 S. Broadway.

The website also offers a Service Advisor to help customers learn their options to complete DMV tasks.

To sign up for paperless vehicle registration and driver’s license renewal notices, customers must opt in by creating a secure online account and registering at dmv.ca.gov.

Santa Maria city leaders and lawmakers have long lobbied for a new DMV office in Santa Maria. 

The new office is three times larger at 13,500 square feet than its current location (4,387 square feet) and will better serve all customers, DMV officials said. 

The original office was built in 1969 when the area it served was significantly smaller.

The brand-new building, at the corner of Santa Maria Way and Sunrise Drive, also boasts updated features and more customer parking, DMV officials added.