• Why change the leading zero addresses?

• Examples of address changes

• What is the timeline?

• What neighborhoods will benefit from the change?

Why change the leading zero addresses?

Multiple databases and information technology applications have difficulty with the leading zero address or are simply do not support leading zero addresses. As a recent example, testing of the City’s new 9-1-1 telephone software found that only leading zero addresses failed testing. While the City would not upgrade this software without first resolving this issue, the need for information technology workarounds is increasingly problematic, and still results in additional 9-1-1 dispatching steps when the software works as intended. These additional dispatching steps to confirm correct addressing take valuable time from 9-1-1 dispatchers, and more importantly are often stressful to 9-1-1 callers, who may simply be unable to ascertain their correct location.  We have also received reports from property owners who were unable to enter a leading zero address on line.

The ongoing time and expense dealing with leading zero addressing will be eliminated with a one-time expense to replace street signs in this area, including for north-south streets. The leading zero will be eliminated for east-west streets, with no address change for north-south streets. However, all addresses east of SW Naito Parkway will change from Southwest to South beginning on May 1, 2020 per City Council approval of Ordinance #188996 on June 6, 2018.  The City of Portland administers addressing for unincorporated Multnomah County, including for the Riverdale neighborhood north of Lake Oswego.

Examples of address changes

The Bureau of Development Services (BDS) is responsible for assignment of address numbers.  96% of addresses will have no number change if on a north-south street and will only remove the leading zero if on an east-west street.  4% of current addresses present additional wayfinding and emergency response issues and have had new address numbers assigned by BDS.  Examples of these major address changes include:

    1. A property currently being addressed from a street which does not provide its physical access.

    2. A property being addressed on the wrong side of the street; e.g. having an odd number instead of an even number or vice versa.

    3. A property's address number being out of order with neighboring properties on the same side of the street.

    4. A property being on an east-west street in the Collins View neighborhood, where the old leading zero boundary line was mid-block.

The new boundary between South and Southwest Portland will be at SW Naito Parkway and SW View Point Terrace intersections in most cases, eliminating nearly all of the former midblock transitions from leading zero to non-leading zero addresses.  Streets which cross the Multnomah County - Clackamas County border will be South north of the border.  Street segments and addresses in northern Clackamas County will retain the Southwest prefix.

What is the timeline?

New addresses are effective May 1, 2020.  If your property address is changing, you were sent a letter the week of April 20, 2020 confirming the new address effective on May 1, 2020.  If you did not receive a letter then your address is not changing.  Note that most addresses are currently in the U.S. Postal Service database, but a few will load on May 2, 2020 and on May 9, 2020, so if you are unable to submit an online address change, try again on May 10, 2020.

What neighborhoods will benefit from the change?

About four-fifths of the streets changing will be in the South Portland Neighborhood Association area, which will become South Portland.  The remaining one-fifth of streets changing to South Portland are in Collins View, the Riverplace area of Portland Downtown, and the Riverdale area of Multnomah County, with very small portions of Homestead and South Burlingame changing as well.  Boundaries of neighborhood associations, neighborhood coalitions and between the City of Portland and unincorporated Multnomah County will not change.

Helpful links to update addresses

PBOT has been in close coordination with U.S. Postal Service on the address changes.  Post offices in the Lake Oswego 97034, Portland 97201, Portland 97219 and Portland 97239 zip codes serving the new South Portland addressing area are aware of and have prepared for the change.  96% of the new addresses will be loaded into the U.S. Postal Service's database as of May 2, 2020 with a small remainder to be loaded on May 9, 2020 and on May 16, 2020.  Some address changes submitted on line may not work until the U.S. Postal Service batch load occurs, and the batch load date for your property is indicated on the BDS address change table:

https://www.portlandmaps.com/reports/index.cfm?&action=south%2Dportland&search_field=ORIGINAL%5FSTREET%5FNAME&search_value=&sort_field=ORIGINAL%5FSTREET%5FNAME&sort_order=asc&page=1

Please do not submit a change of address form with the U.S. Postal Service as the address change will be automatic.  Your zip code will not change.

The Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) and the Portland Water Bureau (PWB) are working in partnership with all other City Bureaus and the USPS to update the area’s affected addresses. Property owners impacted do not need to contact BES nor PWB to have their address updated.

Portland General Electric will automatically update your address on or after May 1, 2020.

Multnomah County Elections will automatically update your address following the May 19, 2020 primary election and the ballot sent to your former address will be counted and you do not need to submit an address change to update your voter registration.

You do not need to visit a DMV office to update the address on your driver's license or on vehicles registered to you; instead you can use this link:

            https://dmv.odot.state.or.us/cf/addresschange/index.cfm

As of May 6, 2020 PBOT was aware that certain address updates with DMV may not properly validate despite the address changes being processed by USPS.  This was not indicative of a mail delivery issue and PBOT has been advised by multiple property owners that the DMV website was accepting address changes as of 5/20/20.

Similarly you can update your address with Social Security on line as well:

            https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/change-of-address.html

If you live an apartment or condominium, be sure to include that in each of your address change submissions.  For example, if you live at 123 S Fake St. #456, if you submit an address change for 123 S Fake St. without the #456 unit number, software will not work to validate your new address against the U.S. Postal Service database.  If you use the USPS Informed Delivery feature, it may temporarily indicate that no mail will arrive; it may take up to four weeks for the electronic notifications to be updated, but this won't result in any delays to the delivery of your mail.

As of April 23, 2020 Fed Ex acknowledged the upcoming South Portland address changes.  As of May 4, 2020 UPS acknowledged the South Portland address changes.  As of May 6, 2020 DHL acknowledged the South Portland address changes.

As of 5/02/20 Apple Maps has updated South Portland addresses so that they can be searched with S instead of SW.  We are aware that they have changed SW Macadam Avenue to S Macadam Avenue but have not changed SW Riverside Dr to S Riverside Dr.  PBOT has notified Apple Maps of this discrepancy and Apple has notified PBOT that they will make the next map update on Friday, May 8, 2020.

As of May 3, 2020 Google was notified of multiple street segments needing to be updated from Southwest to South and confirmed on June 11, 2020 that their map edits were complete.