Phone Firms Plan New Area Code : Communications: Rapid growth in Orange County, Inland Empire dictates decision to split the 714 zone.

Faced with a shortage of phone numbers because of rapid growth in Orange County and the Inland Empire, GTE and Pacific Bell officials have decided to carve a new area code out of the existing 714 area, officials said Monday.

Phone company officials said they will announce today who among the region’s 4.7 million customers will be affected by the split when it takes effect in January, 1993.

Unlike past area code changes in the state, this one has a twist:

For the first time, the phone companies will offer three proposed boundaries for the new area code and allow time for public response to help decide how the boundaries will look, officials said.

“The idea is to gather from our customers input as to where they would like to see the boundaries for the new configuration set up,” said GTE California spokesman Larry Cox.

The new review system is dictated by legislation sponsored by state Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles) and signed into law in July. The public hearings on the three proposals are to be held Nov. 26-30 in Orange County and the Inland Empire.

Even before the proposals are made public, there were some grumblings of opposition Monday.

Told about splitting the 714 area code, Orange County Chamber of Commerce President Lucien D. Truehill predicted “a lot of resistance if they split this county up into different area codes. This is a dramatic change and it’s going to be a shock to the business community.

“It’s going to require a lot of changes for business just as far as stationery and things like that. But more than that, there’s the danger of the region losing its identity when you break up the area code like that,” he said.