ZIP Code Dispute May Be Settled Soon

Cobb residents with Paulding addresses will soon be able to decide by a group vote on whether to switch their ZIP code to reflect the county they actually live in.

Since April 2011, when one of the affected residents , the city has requested that the Postal Service change Hiram's 30141 in Cobb to Powder Springs' 30127.

“They finally, last month, sent a letter saying they would accommodate the request on certain conditions," Director Pam Conner said at Wednesday's work session.

The city must provide a hot line for people to call in and ask questions, as well as host a meeting on the matter. The meeting is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 2 at the 's .

Afterward, the Postal Service will send surveys to those who would be affected, and a simple majority of those who return the surveys will decide whether the change happens.

Councilman Chris Wizner's sudivision, Warren Creek, is near the county line, and the houses there have the Hiram ZIP code. He said only two of his neighbors didn't want the switch.

“One just didn’t want to go through the hassle of changing their address, and the other one said they just like being in Hiram," he said. “Everybody else I talked to was for it."

If approved by the simple majority, the whole process will take about a year, Mayor Pat Vaughn said. During that time, she explained, the Postal Service will conduct the survey, gather the results, and allow citizens to notify who they need to about their new address—though both Hiram and Powder Springs will work for mailing during the transition.

Since city and unincorporated Cobb residents would be affected, Powder Springs officials have been in contact with the county government about the possbile switch.

In the 1.76 square miles in question, there are 313 land lots, 226 of which are developed—a couple businesses, a church, and the rest residential.

The man who initially pushed for the switch and asked for council support, Johnnie Purify of the Woodberry Farms subdivision, noted several problematic areas from misleading ZIP codes: paying property taxes, insurance rates, varying sales taxes, voting locations, housing values, GPS navigation, jury duty and emergency services.

Patch readers in response to the April 2011 article "".

The Postal Service has long said its ZIP code boundaries are only meant to section off land in a way that leads to effective and accurate postal delivery, and they don't necessarily reflect city or county limits.

The company does, though, allow for appeals, like what Powder Springs has done.

Do you think the ZIP codes should be changed? Tell us in the comments.

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