County in New Battle to Keep 805 Area Code

A new battle is shaping up between Ventura County and its two closest northern rivals over who gets to keep the 805 area code.

Ventura County supervisors are expected to sound the rallying cry next week by passing a resolution stating that this county--and not neighboring Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties--is entitled to keep the familiar 805 code.

City councils from Ventura to Simi Valley will likely follow suit with their own resolutions and letters to the California Public Utilities Commission as the battle to retain 805 gains momentum, said Steve Offerman, an aide to the resolution’s author, Supervisor Susan Lacey of Ventura.

“We need to pick up our effort because the lobbying by Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo is already underway,” Offerman said.

Plans call for splitting the 805 area roughly along the Santa Barbara-Ventura County line because the code will run out of numbers by late 2002 if not divided again. Only one zone--Ventura County or a combined Santa Barbara-San Louis Obispo region--will get to keep 805, Public Utilities Commission officials told local government leaders at a recent meeting.

An alternative solution, assigning an “overlay” area code that would require phone users to punch 11 numbers for local calls, is not expected to be seriously considered by the utilities commission because it faced fierce opposition in Santa Monica and the San Fernando Valley last year, Offerman said.

Ventura County deserves to keep 805, Offerman said, because it has the densest population of residential and business phone users in the dialing region. In the past, the Public Utilities Commission has ruled that territories viewed as core population centers have tended to keep the familiar code while more sparsely populated areas got new ones, he said. Ventura County has 750,000 residents compared to 405,500 in Santa Barbara and 239,000 in San Luis Obispo.

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But population density is not always the deciding factor, said Rebecca Barnhart, spokeswoman for the North America Numbering Plan Administration, which makes recommendations on new area codes to the utilities commission.

“One factor to consider is population density,” Barnhart said. “Those comments are certainly heavily weighted. But in Kentucky, the more heavily populated areas got the new code. So it’s hard to make a blanket statement.”

Ventura County residents will get the chance to give their opinion at a public hearing scheduled for next month in Ventura. Public hearings will also be held in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties before NANPA administrators make a recommendation to the Public Utilities Commission in about six months, Barnhart said.

Officials in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo say they are preparing for a friendly, but intense, competition.

“We don’t want to change. You don’t want to change,” said Bill McTomney, a public works officer for the city of Santa Barbara. “That may well be, but one of us is going to be out of luck.”

The cities of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo will send their own letters asking to retain the code, officials there said. And as the public hearings draw nearer, grass-roots campaigns to keep 805 may crop up, said Bill Statler, finance director for the city of San Luis Obispo.

“This is a Solomon-like decision because you can’t split the baby,” Statler said. “Those communities that can mobilize public opinion, get people to hearings and make their case passionately will be most successful before the PUC.”

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Number shortages are occurring across the nation because of an explosion in demand for pagers, cellular phones, fax machines and the Internet. Just last year, the 805 zone shrank when portions in Kern and Los Angeles counties were assigned new numbers.

But 805 has been part of Ventura County’s identity since 1957, cleaved from the 213 zone to become California’s fifth area code. Today there are 25 area codes across California, Barnhart said.

Governments and businesses typically fight area code changes because of the expense involved in updating stationery, advertisements and business cards. New codes also mean that address books, alarm equipment, checks, computer lists, banking information and even emergency contact lists must be changed.

Ventura County won’t let it go without a fight, promised Supervisor John K. Flynn.

“Let’s keep 805 alive,” said Flynn, of Oxnard. “It’s been our identity for a long time and we deserve to keep it. We will keep it.”

FYI

Ventura County residents can comment on a proposal to change the 805 area code at a public hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. March 8 in the council chambers at Ventura City Hall, 501 Poli St. For more information, contact the California Public Utilities Commission at www.cpuc.ca.gov or the North American Numbering Plan Administrator at www.nanpa.com.

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Splitting 805 Proposed

A proposal has been made to divide the 805 area code into two parts. However, it is unclear which new area would retain the 805 area code or adopt a new one.

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