By Dennis Box

The Courier-Herald

Pick a number Bonney Lake, but not just any number.

The ZIP code lottery has moved a step closer to Washington D.C., where final approval is anticipated.

According to Guy Bennett, manager of address management systems in Seattle for the United States Postal Service, the Bonney Lake Zip code has been approved in Seattle and has been sent on to Denver.

"We sent everything off about two months ago and we're waiting for approval from the vice president at Denver," Bennett said. "From there it will be forwarded to headquarters (Washington D.C.). I'm optimistic. I think maybe a couple of months."

People in Bonney Lake and the surrounding plateau have a Sumner mailing address and ZIP code, 98390.

"This is really good news for Bonney Lake," Mayor Bob Young said. "This will help gives us an identity. With the new high school starting up this year, City Hall and a ZIP code, this is nothing but good news."

The rapid growth in the area is the driving reason behind the ZIP code change. More than 1,000 people per year during the last three years have moved to the region. Bonney Lake's population is officially listed by the city as 13,740 and it expects to be nearly 15,000 by 2006.

In 2001 Bonney Lake's population was about 10,000.

Bennett noted that while Bonney Lake was a small city, it's development was dense.

"The people that look at this and assign ZIP codes usually see a slower growth," Bennett said. "The Puget Sound area is different because of county and city regulations and the Growth Management Act."

The ZIP code system used by the USPS was first enacted in 1963 and became mandatory in 1967.

According to the USPS Web site, the first digit in the ZIP code indicates a general geographic area of the nation, starting with 0 in the eastern U.S. to 9, which represents areas in the western U.S.

The next two numbers in the ZIP code represent regional areas, and the final two numbers identify specific post office locations or postal zones.

The ZIP plus four system began in 1983 adding a hyphen and four digits.

The USPS Web site states, "The first five numbers continued to identify an area of the country. The sixth and seventh numbers denote a delivery sector, which may be several blocks, a group of streets, a group of post office boxes, several office buildings, a single high-rise office building, a large apartment building, or a small geographic area. The last two numbers denote a delivery segment, which might be one floor of an office building, one side of a street between intersecting streets, specific departments in a firm, or a group of post office boxes."

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.