Unincorporated ZIP Codes Discussed
Do you know where you live? Are you sure? More than 27,00 parcels in the unincorporated area are currently in a gray area as far as their United States Postal Service (USPS) address goes, so the County is proposing to clear things up.
The 94541, 94552, and 94578 ZIP codes are affected. For example, there are people in 94578 who live within the boundaries of Castro Valley but have a San Leandro address. The confusion extends to San Lorenzo, Cherryland, and Hayward Acres.
County staff presented the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Committee (MAC) with three possible options for transitioning ZIP codes and place names at a meeting on Tuesday, February 21.
Alison Abbors, a planner with the Alameda County Community Development Agency, told the MAC about three possible options that the county can request from the USPS.
· Option 1: Preferred Last Line (Place Name Change)
· Option 2: Alternate Preferred Unofficial Last Line Change
· Option 3: Full ZIP Code Boundary Realignment
Option 1 would have residents use their community's name as the official "Place Name" when they address their envelopes. These are the unincorporated community names such as Ashland, Cherryland, and Fairview in places where city names are used currently.
For example, those parts of the unincorporated 94578 ZIP code currently use San Leandro as their address city/town, and now they'd use Ashland. The ZIP code would not change.
In Option 2, residents could use their community's name on their mail, but it would not be official, and (in the case of the above example) they could use either San Leandro or Ashland on their mail.
Option 3—which the County admits might be a tough sell to the USPS—would require a full change to current ZIP codes. A survey would have to be distributed to all impacted addresses, of which 50 percent of the surveys would have to be returned, and 50 percent of those which were returned would have to approve of the requested change.
Abbors said the reasoning behind the possible changes would be to create a more cohesive and stronger sense of community identity—an idea the County is keen on in general, with increased signage, etc. The County added that clearly defined communities also help with census and other data collection and resource allocation.
County staff will now hear from the other local MACs to get their feelings on the options, then the matter would go to the Board of Supervisors for approval, after which the USPS would have to agree to implement the changes.
The MAC didn't offer any strong opinions on the proposed options and wondered if there is strong support to change anything about unincorporated addresses.
"Have there been requests from the areas to explore this?" asked MAC member Al Padro. "I would think there are a myriad of other issues (to be addressed), but maybe I'm a party of one."
Abbors said that the project has been in the works since before she joined the staff but said that people in the affected areas have indicated they want the clarification. She added, however, that even some people who do live in the unaligned areas don't even realize that they are in them.
To receive updates on the USPS project, visit https://www.acgov.org/cda/USPSproject.
Also, at the Tuesday MAC meeting, the board heard an update from the Castro Valley/ Eden Area Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber was first established in 1937 and, in addition to promoting business in town in general, also puts on signature events, including the Fall Festival and Castro Valley Light Parade.
New Chamber Executive Director Gary Slate said the Chamber is currently in a state of growth and encourages all small businesses to join if they haven't already.
"Your standard small business doesn't have much of a voice, but by being part of the Chamber, they can have a much larger voice," said Slate.
Slate said the Chamber underwent some tough times during COVID when they shut down their office and laid off staff. Now, a new office is open at 20235 Redwood Road.
Slate said he wants the Chamber to help make Castro Valley a "destination" for shopping and eating for people in other nearby cities.
"It's exciting to see the amount of new business in Castro Valley," said Slate. "We want to see no vacancies in any of our local shops."
MAC member Ken Carbone said that previous iterations of the Chamber have been "lackluster." Still, he sees the current staff's hard work, especially in recovering from the COVID era, and said he "looks forward" to their future endeavors.