Breaking Up (805) May Not Be That Hard to Do

A plan unveiled Tuesday to split the sprawling 805 area code proposes dividing the region either on a north-south or east-west axis, but would keep Ventura County largely intact.

One option would put most of Ventura County into the same area code as northern Los Angeles County. The other would lump the coastal counties--Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo--in a single region.

“We try and keep counties as whole as possible when we can; we try to keep cities as whole as possible when we can,” said Doug Hescox, California administrator for the California-Nevada Code Administration, the industry group that since 1984 has overseen telephone number distribution.

“We’ve been very lucky in both options,” he said. “Here we’re able to go around highly populated areas and pretty much keep the cities and communities intact.”

Undecided is which region would retain the 805 area code after the split and which would receive an unspecified new one. The California Public Utilities Commission will make a decision on the area code partition later this year; the split could come in early 1999.

The high-technology explosion of fax machines, pagers, cellular phones, computer modems and other telecommunications equipment is propelling the need for new area codes.

People have an opportunity to voice a preference among the proposals at any of six meetings that begin May 28 throughout the region, including a Camarillo hearing May 29.

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“The industry basically said we can live with either of them, so we’re looking for input from the public on which meets their needs best,” Hescox said. “The three [communities] that really said they needed to stay together were San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.”

Under the east-west option, that request is honored. The three coastal counties would be grouped with tiny portions of Monterey, Fresno and Kings counties. To the east, portions of Kern and Los Angeles counties would share another phone code with small, largely unpopulated areas of Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Tulare counties.

The western region would need to be split yet again in eight to 10 years, and the east in 14 to 16 years, planners predict.

However, under the north-south option, most of Ventura and Los Angeles counties would be placed in the same area code along with a portion of southeastern Kern County. Areas to the north would receive a different area code.

The life span of the area code in the northern region is estimated at about a decade, with 12 to 14 years in the south.

The proposal drew a mixed reaction from Ventura County Supervisor Susan Lacey’s office. Last month the county Board of Supervisors unanimously endorsed a resolution to keep Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties in a common area code.

“Previously we liked one out of four of the options; now we like one out of two, so I would say the odds are going in our favor,” said Lacey assistant Steve Offerman. “The tri-counties or Gold Coast is a recognized community of interest. It is part of business monikers, it is part of people’s identity as their part of California.”

Moreover, fire and law enforcement agencies in the region share mutual aid response agreements.

The introduction of new area codes in recent years has been traumatic for businesses and sometimes entire communities, especially in interconnected metropolitan regions such as Los Angeles.

Aside from ordering new business cards and stationery, most of the impact is minimized by avoiding splitting cities or counties and disrupting calling patterns. In the instances when counties are split, the isolated areas often have more ties to neighboring communities. For instance, Lockwood Valley on the northern edge of Ventura County has more connections to Kern County than to coastal Ventura, Hescox said.

Moreover, people sometimes incorrectly believe a new area code means a toll call, he said. But distance rather than area codes determines the price of calls.

Still, whether they want to or not, residents will have no choice but to get used to new area codes, Hescox said.

It took 50 years for 10 area codes to be added to the original three California had in 1947. Another 10, including two already implemented this year, will be added in the next two years alone. What’s more, at the present rate of telephone number proliferation, North America will run out of area codes entirely in about 25 years.

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FYI

Residents can express their views on the proposed area code split at three local meetings: Santa Barbara City Hall council chambers, 735 Anacapa St., 1 to 3 p.m. May 29; Camarillo City Hall council chambers, 601 Carmen Drive, 7 to 9 p.m. May 29, and Valencia Town Center community room, 24201 W. Valencia Blvd., 7 to 9 p.m. June 4.

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Proposed Area Code Split

The telecommunications industry is proposing a geographic split of the 805 area code, with part of the region keeping the existing code and part receiving a new one. One plan calls for a north-south division, while a second proposal would impose an east-west split. No decisions have been made yet on which area will keep 805. Ventura County residents will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed area code split as the proposed boundaries, at a 7 p.m. public hearing at Camarillo City Hall on May 29.

Source: California Code Administration