Letter to COJ - Support for a Zip Code Boundary Review.pdfAugust 17, 2015
Councilmember Bill Gulliford
Office of the City Council
City of Jacksonville
117 W. Duval Street, Suite 425
Jacksonville, FL 32202
RE: Support for a Zip Code Boundary Review
Dear Councilmember Gulliford,
CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH
800 SEMINOLE ROAD
ATLANTIC BEACH, FLORIDA 32233-5455
TELEPHONE: (904) 247-5800
FAX: (904) 247-5805
SUNCOM: 852-5800
www.coab.us
The City of Atlantic Beach intends to make an official request for the U. S. Postal Service to
conduct a Zip Code Boundary Review of our two municipalities and any support Jacksonville
could provide in this effort would be greatly appreciated.
On August 10, 2015, the Atlantic Beach Commission voted unanimously to adopt the attached
Resolution 15-07 supporting a Zip Code Boundary Review by the U. S. Postal Service to
change the "City Name" portion of the last line of the mailing address from Atlantic Beach, FL
32233 to Jacksonville, FL 32233 for properties which are not within the City of Atlantic Beach.
The reasoning behind the "push" for this modification is due to the problematic issues that have
resulted from our municipalities sharing a Zip Code. The following are some issues that have
continued to cause a great deal of confusion and frustration for Jacksonville citizens and
business owners as well as City staff for many years.
Emergency response efforts can be hindered when citizens seeking police services in a
time of crisis become frustrated and confused when they contact the City of Atlantic
Beach for assistance and are told they reside in Jacksonville's jurisdiction.
Jacksonville residents contact the Atlantic Beach City Hall in an attempt to file Code
Enforcement, Animal Control and Sanitation complaints. The complaints for missed
garbage are very frequent.
Atlantic Beach staff often find it extremely difficult to explain to contractors submitting
applications for building permits that although the homeowner has a Atlantic Beach
mailing address and Zip Code, the property address is in Jacksonville and they are the
approval authority on permits, not Atlantic Beach.
The U. P. Postal Service has a process for these types of requests. The Boundary Review
Process exists to accommodate cities such as Atlantic Beach that desire a modification to the
mailing address. It is now possible to allow the use of more than one City name on the last line
of the address while retaining the Zip Code of the delivery post office. It is a simple process
for the U. S. Postal Service to change the name of the City and keep the Zip Code the same.
The U. S. Postal Service has stated that Jacksonville is already the default address and it is
overwritten by Atlantic Beach. Quite simply, the City of Atlantic Beach is proposing that
Jacksonville residents change the last line of their address to match their jurisdiction.
I have been assured by the U. S. Postal Service that changing the address will not lead to
misdirected mail, will not cause any cost to the resident and will not require any changes to
driver's licenses. Large corporate mass mailers will make address changes automatically.
Other smaller senders will be able to make the changes at their own speed as they are ready.
The mail will be delivered accurately using both addresses as long as it takes for senders to
make the changes.
I would like to request that the City of Jacksonville work together with Atlantic Beach to
request that the U. S. Postal Service change the last line of the address to Jacksonville for the
reasons stated above. You may do this either by letter of support or by a resolution such as the
one passed by Atlantic Beach. We would like to submit a package showing support by both
cities to the U. S. Postal Service District Manager requesting the change. With only the request
from Atlantic Beach, the USPS will likely do a survey of affected residents. This situation is
unique in that Atlantic Beach is requesting that residents outside our City change their address.
This is why it is very important for both of our cities to join in the request to remedy the
ongoing problems. Support from both sides will certainly make the success of this request
much more likely to happen.
Please feel free to contact me at (904) 247-5806 so we can work together to get this
longstanding issue resolved. Any support that the City of Jacksonville could provide to
Atlantic Beach in order to initiate this review process would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Nelson Van Liere
City Manager
Encl: (1) City of Atlantic Beach Resolution 15-07
(2) Map of Zip Code Boundary