North County Cities to Receive New Area Code

Telephone users in Santa Clarita, Lancaster and Palmdale need to get over their hang-ups and say goodbye to the 805 area code.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved a plan Wednesday that will put northern Los Angeles County and most of Kern County, including Bakersfield, into a new area code, yet to be determined. Also covered by the new code will be a tiny, lightly populated strip of northeastern Ventura County and slivers of Kings, Tulare, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Nearly all of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, plus portions of Monterey, Fresno and Kings counties, will remain in the 805 area.

The change will take effect in February 1999, with a six-month grace period permitting callers to dial either the new or old code.

The new area code will become California’s 24th. Area codes have increased to provide numbers for the proliferation of telephone-using devices, including cellular phones, pagers, computer modems and faxes.

The new area code is expected to last about 14 to 17 years before it runs out of numbers, officials said. The new, smaller 805 area code is expected to last nine to 10 years.

Doug Hescox, head of the California-Nevada Code Administration, a telecommunications industry group that oversees regional telephone number distribution, said the three digits of the new code will be announced in early December.

Hescox said public input favored an east-west split of the present 805 area rather than a north-south alternative. The latter scenario would have grouped most of Ventura with northern Los Angeles County, putting Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties into the new code.

“There were more similarities between the three coastal counties than the inland ones,” he said. “That was the pitch from the coastal communities.”

Some Los Angeles County leaders, many of them in Santa Clarita, opposed the east-west option, urging the PUC to let them stay in 805. They argued the change would force businesses to make costly changes to advertisements and office supplies and would disrupt calling patterns in their area.

“It’s change, and change is hard,” said Gail Ortiz, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita city government. “We’re concerned about our businesses, and that’s why we came out against it.”

Connie Worden-Roberts lobbied the PUC on behalf of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Valencia Industrial Assn. since the proposal to split 805 first surfaced publicly in May. She conceded that her groups and other opponents of the change did not mount a “significant effort” to remain in 805.

“We expected to lose,” she said.

When the area code system was introduced nationwide, California had just three codes: 213, 415 and 916. The 805 area split off from 213 in 1957.

Although acknowledging that the switch would mean some inconvenience, Antelope Valley officials appeared resigned to it.

“The bottom line is that somebody has to change,” said state Assemblyman George Runner (R-Lancaster).

“There will be some who say, ‘Oh no! Bad deal,’ ” said Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts. “But we’ve been expecting a change. And it does give kind of a cohesive feeling, being with Santa Clarita and Kern County. . . . Whenever I’m over near the ocean, I think, ‘Why is this the same area code?’ ”

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New Area Code

The Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys are getting a new telephone area code, effective in 1999. The California Public Utilities Commission approved a plan Wednesday putting northern Los Angeles County and most of Kern County, including Bakersfield, into a new area code, jet to be determined. Also covered by the new code will be a tiny, lightly populated strip of northeastern Ventura County and slivers of Kings, Tulare, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Remaining in the 805 code will be nearly all of Ventura County, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, plus portions of Monterey, Fresno and Kings counties.

Source: California Code Administration