AREA CODE SPLIT MAY RING SOUR.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Daily News Staff Writer

It looks like splitsville for the 818 area code.

Those three numbers - which have spelled ``the Valley'' for more than a decade - simply can't slake the thirst Valley consumers and businesses have for new phone numbers.

That's why the California Public Utilities Commission has quietly begun the process of getting the region a new area code by June 2000, CPUC spokeswoman Kyle Devine acknowledged Friday.

However, it is way too soon to speculate on what the number might be, where the dividing line would fall or if a new area code might be overlaid on top of the 818 area code, she said.

``They don't usually release (the number) until they get final approval for a split or an overlay,'' Devine said.

Right now the 818 area code covers San Fernando Valley communities and surrounding areas from Agoura Hills through Glendale and La Canada Flintridge. It was split off from the 213 area code in 1984.

A geographic split would result in some parts of the Valley keeping 818 and the rest getting a new number. An overlay would mean that all the residents and businesses in the region would keep their current 818 numbers but numbers for second phone lines, cell phones, pagers and faxes would be assigned the new area code.

The former could be a shock to the community's collective psyche and a pain in the bank balance for businesses that would have to buy new stationery and such.

The latter would be less expensive, but possibly more confusing because people would have to dial a different area code to call their fax lines.

There have been a number of splits in the past several years as fax machines, pagers and computer lines gobble up numbers. For example, 818 telephones in the San Gabriel Valley were split into 626 last year, and 562 split off from 310 earlier this year.

Now 310 has to be split again next year, Devine said.

Area codes were first introduced in 1947, and California got three of them.

It took the state 50 years to generate an additional 10 area codes.

But by the end of this year the state will have added 10 more, bringing the total number to 23. Each area code creates an additional 8 million telephone numbers.

Sometimes an area code split can be a contentious process.

When 818 was first split last year, Burbank put up a ferocious fight to keep from being dumped into the 626 area along with Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley.

So another fight may be in the offing from communities that want to hang on to their telephone identity.

The task of coming up with a plan rests with Lockheed Martin Corp.'s North American Numbering Plan Administration, which doles out new phone numbers.

Joe Cocke, the plan administrator, could not be reached for comment on Friday.

``Generally the way the industry has been doing it over the years is if it's in a highly urbanized area they go with overlays; if it's a widespread area they go with splits,'' said Larry Cox, spokesman for GTE California. ``But I don't know what's being planned.''

The plan will take shape after a series of public hearings scheduled to start this fall.

State regulators, though, have the final say.

``We'll decide to go with it, tweak it or come up with something different,'' Devine said.

MEETINGS SET

A series of meetings is scheduled throughout the Valley in early November to discuss ways the 818 area code can be broken up. The meetings are:

Nov. 4 at 1 p.m. in the Burbank City Council chamber, 275 E. Olive St.

Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. in the San Fernando City Council chamber, 117 MacNeil St., San Fernando.

Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. in the California State University, Northridge, student union, Santa Clarita Room, 1811 Nordhoff St.

Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District board room, 4232 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas.

CAPTION(S):

Box: Meetings set (see text)