Overlay to Be Weighed for 818 Area Code

In a decision that would affect hundreds of thousands of telephone users in the San Fernando Valley, state regulators will consider an area code overlay in the 818 calling area, officials said Thursday.

A state administrative law judge for the Public Utilities Commission recommended the overlay this week, rejecting an alternative plan to again divide the 818 code geographically.

Under the overlay proposal, all new phones in Valley homes and businesses would get the new area code, with the actual code number to be determined later.

In addition, all callers in the 818 area would have to dial the 818 code to other 818 phones--even if those phones are in the same building or next door.

“I think we should stop this proposal in its tracks,” said state Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles), who has introduced legislation to put stricter controls on overlays. “What they call area code relief, we call area code chaos.”

The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to consider the proposal at its Aug. 5 meeting, said Kyle DeVine, a state public utilities spokeswoman.

A coalition of telecommunications companies including Pacific Bell, GTE and MCI are pushing for the changes, saying either an overlay or a new geographic code is necessary to accommodate a surge in demand for additional telephone lines for modems, fax machines, pagers and cellular telephones.

Telecommunications providers project that available numbers will be exhausted within the first few months of 2001.

But Chatsworth attorney Bill Powers, who says he makes about 60 calls a day, proposes another solution.

“What they need to do is create a situation where modems and cell phones have their own area code, rather than use this as an excuse to do an overlay,” Powers said. “It would be a pain in the neck and work its way down.”

DeVine said that before the overlay is implemented, the five-member panel will require telecommunications company executives to submit documentation supporting their assertion that there is a pressing demand for new telephone numbers in the 818 area code.

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Times staff writer Karen Robinson-Jacobs contributed to this story.