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By TIM GRANT
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 17, 2001
LUTZ -- Residents and businesses in Lutz will have a year to use up all their old stationery and notify everyone of their new addresses. On July 1, three new ZIP codes will be established for Lutz. In addition to 33549, Lutz addresses will carry 33548, 33558 and 33559.
The U.S. Postal Service will send out letters this week notifying everyone affected by the change and confirming their new ZIP codes.
Lutz has grown to the point where postal officials decided that the area needs to have four ZIP codes instead of one.
"We ran out of numbers," said Postmaster Russ Miller. "We've got a growth rate that's really high now and it appears it's going to stay that way. Hopefully, we'll never have to change the ZIP codes here again."
Right now there are 20,000 houses in Lutz. A postal committee that studied the area's growth determined that when the area is built out there will be 60,000 homes. Miller said the problem is that the post office has run out of four-digit numbers to add on to the 33549 ZIP code.
During the ZIP code transition, there will be no delay of mail delivery, Miller said.
Between Bearss Avenue and State Road 54, the ZIP codes will be as such:
Livingston Avenue and everything to the east, 33559.
U.S. 41 and Florida Avenue to Lake Magdalene Boulevard and everything to the east will remain 33549.
N Dale Mabry Highway to the east of U.S. 41, but not including U.S. 41, will become 33548.
Everything west of N Dale Mabry -- from just south of Lake Park to the Veterans Expressway -- will be 33558.
Miller said the Postal Service will continue to deliver mail with the old ZIP code until July 2002.