Public Hearing Scheduled on Area Code Overlay

A town hall meeting on a controversial area code overlay for the San Fernando Valley is set for Aug. 5 to give residents and small-business owners the chance to question state regulators about the plan, officials said Tuesday.

The public meeting, called by state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar), is scheduled for 6 p.m. in a 250-seat auditorium at the Van Nuys State Building, 6150 Van Nuys Blvd.

The Public Utilities Commission was previously scheduled to consider the overlay proposal at its regular meeting Aug. 5 at its San Francisco headquarters.

But state regulators agreed to defer action on the proposal to allow commissioners time to weigh public comments, Norman Low, an advisor to Commissioner Carl Wood, said Tuesday. Wood is expected to represent the five-member panel at the Aug. 5 public meeting.

The overlay will likely be taken up again at the PUC’s regular meeting Sept. 2, Low said.

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

Additionally, all telephone users would have to dial 1 and the area code--even to other phones with the same area code.

In addition to Wood, Alarcon has invited representatives of area chambers of commerce, telephone companies and Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles), who introduced AB818 to rescind a 310 overlay, ban future splits and overlays and create separate area codes for pagers, cellular phones, fax machines and computer modems.

PUC officials contend that some provisions of the legislation would put the state in direct conflict with Federal Communication Commission regulations. State regulators have petitions pending before the FCC seeking area code relief.