JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — The mayor of Johns Creek says it’s time for his city of roughly 84,000 people to have its own ZIP code.
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“It is of paramount importance to our community that our city has a single ZIP code,” Mayor John Bradberry wrote in a letter to the U.S. Postal Service.
The city currently has five ZIP codes, all identified with surrounding cities. He said Johns Creek is striving “to develop its own sense of community, identity and place.”
Some locals have homes and businesses listed not only under a Johns Creek address, but also the address of a neighboring city.
“Many of our residents are often mistaken as to which city they actually live in, especially if they live closer to the periphery of our city boundary,” Bradberry wrote.
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He said Sen. John Ossoff and Rep. Rich McCormick have also sent letters to the postal service, requesting a new ZIP code exclusively for Johns Creek.
“Personally, I think it’s great,” said Arthur Holst, who lives in the Seven Oaks neighborhood, which is well within the Johns Creek city limits but has a ZIP code linked to Alpharetta.
He’s lived in the subdivision for nearly 30 years, before Johns Creek was incorporated as a city in 2006. Holst said he runs into ZIP code confusion when he’s doing business online and entering his address.
“Because there’s no dedicated ZIP code for the city, it automatically defaults to Alpharetta,” Holst said.
Bradberry said the five ZIP codes can hurt the city’s economy, with customers having trouble connecting with local businesses because direction software might have other cities listed for a single address.
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“As our city continues to grow with the creation of a Town Center and future developments, the need for a clearly defined, unified Johns Creek ZIP code becomes increasingly apparent for our economic development,” he wrote.
He said the confusion can also lead to misallocated sales tax revenue, with money possibly credited to the wrong city. Public safety could also come into play, he told Channel 2’s Bryan Mims. Having a single ZIP code that identifies with Johns Creek, instead of five associated with other cities, could prevent confusion among first responders and improve response times, he said.
However, Bob Sender, who lives in a ZIP code linked to Duluth, said creating a new code would only cause confusion, not eliminate it. He’s had the same ZIP code for 30 years and has official documents, such as a passport, with that number. He said he and his neighbors don’t see the multiple ZIP codes as an issue.
“They want to be recognized as living in Johns Creek, they don’t care what the ZIP code is,” he said. “I mean, Atlanta probably has 50 ZIP codes.”
It’s unclear when the postal service could decide on granting a new number for Johns Creek, but the mayor is teaming up with the National ZIP Code Advocacy Coalition in hopes of making it a reality.
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