Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

As people multiply, area divides

With growth comes additional ZIP codes for Riverview and Valrico.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published April 13, 2007

First developments started sprouting up like new crops on fertilized farmland. Then came big-box stores and traffic jams.

On July 1, Riverview and Valrico residents will see another sign of the area's explosive growth: new ZIP codes.

In Riverview, the existing 33569 ZIP code will be split into three parts, creating 33578 and 33579. And the United States Postal Service is splitting Valrico's 33594 ZIP code in half, creating a 33596 region.

"Even though growth is at a very good pace in those areas right now, we're just trying to stay ahead of the curve," postal service spokesman Gary Sawtelle said.

The Riverview change, he said, will affect 18,267 residential and 457 business addresses.

In Valrico, 10,172 residential and 254 business addresses will have a new ZIP code.

Next month the postal service will mail notices about the change to affected residents and businesses, Sawtelle said. The new ZIP codes go into effect July 1, but property owners will have until July 1, 2008, to notify correspondents, like catalog-mailers and credit card companies.

In Valrico, 33594 will include addresses north of Durant Road, and 33596 will include addresses south of that road.

In Riverview, 33569 will include addresses south of the Alafia River, east of U.S. 301 and north of Rhodine Road. ZIP code 33578 will include addresses west of U.S. 301 and north of the Alafia River. And ZIP code 33579 will include homes east of U.S. 301 and south of Rhodine Road.

Rapid growth and news of subdivisions on the way prompted the change, Sawtelle said.

In Riverview over the past three years, the postal service has seen an average 12.8 percent annual increase in customers, according to Sawtelle.

That, he said, meant adding 2,611 possible deliveries per year.

And it made the area a prime candidate for a ZIP code change, which Sawtelle said the postal service considers annually.

The change will affect more than 80 percent of Riverview's business addresses.

"For small businesses, the impact could be substantial, if they have to change all their documents ..." said Mario Torres, an attorney with an office in Riverview.

For Cottage A Florist & Gifts in Riverview, changing ZIP codes could affect business in a another way, owner Sonya Kennedy said, because local florists register ZIP codes with national wire services.

"I could miss a lot of orders," she said. "I understand, but that's just such a little area to change."

But there is a flip side. More development means more people in Riverview need flowers.

"It is just unreal," she said. "Our deliveries have doubled in the last year."

Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 813 661-2427.

[Last modified April 12, 2007, 07:28:25]