Legislative effort for new zip code renewed in 115th Congress: Zeldin

A new zip code for Flanders, Riverside and Northampton has been included in the Postal Service Reform Act of 2017, a bipartisan bill introduced in the House this week, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) announced yesterday.

The bill was introduced in the last Congress and passed out of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last July, but was not acted on by the House. Zeldin had secured an amendment to the 2016 bill providing for the new zip code.

Zeldin turned to a legislative approach to force the postal service to establish the new zip code after his efforts to get the USPS to do it did not bear fruit. He wrote to the USPS in August 2015 asking for the new zip code but the L.I. district manager denied the request. Zeldin then appealed the denial to the U.S. Postmaster General, but has had no response to the appeal.

In late November, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah — whom Zeldin brought to Flanders in September to meet with local residents about the zip code request — introduced a separate bill to establish the new zip code.
It was passed the next day, but was never taken up by the Senate.

“Securing a new zip code for these three hamlets has been an effort that I have been working on since taking office,” Zeldin said in a press release yesterday, in which he thanked Chaffetz for including the new zip code provision in the 2017 postal reform bill.

“I will continue advocating for Congress to advance this legislation,” Zeldin said. “This is an effort that residents, local elected officials, and community organizations have been working on for many years.”

The Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association, which has advocated for a new zip code for years, yesterday thanked Zeldin “for his support and tenacity” on the issue.

“FRNCA won’t stop working on this,” the organization said in the email.

FRNCA and local residents say having Flanders, Riverside and Northampton share the 11901 zip code with Riverhead causes confusion because of dozens of duplicate street name, resulting in the incorrect routing and delivery of letters and packages.