Residents Asked to Comment on Area Code Split

South County residents will have an opportunity to comment on a proposal to add a telephone area code in their neighborhood during three public meetings scheduled next week.

The options offered in the proposal are to split the area served by the 949 code into two regions, with one of them switched over to a new code, or to impose an “overlay” in which new numbers will be served by a new code.

“We want to see what the concerns of the citizens in that area might be,” said Barbara Blackwell, a spokeswoman for the North America Numbering Plan Administrator, which administers area codes and prefixes.

The new area code is necessary, Blackwell said, because of population growth, increasing local phone service competition, and the growing demand for cellular phones and pagers.

The meetings are scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Lake Forest City Council chambers, 23161 Lake Center Drive, Suite 220; 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Community Center in San Juan Capistrano, 25925 Camino Del Avion; and 10 a.m. March 23 in the Laguna Beach City Council chambers, 505 Forest Ave.

Cities and communities affected include Aliso Viejo, Capistrano Beach, Corona del Mar, Dana Point, El Toro, Emerald Bay, Lake Forest, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, Trabuco Canyon, parts of Costa Mesa and most of Irvine.

Blackwell said the new area code should take effect by late 2002.