The administration is filing the recommendation on behalf of the telecommunications industry, which had already reached consensus to recommend the overlay before three public comment meetings around Orange County, including one in Huntington Beach.
If the overlay option is adopted by the commission, residents who have 714 telephone numbers will have to dial a "1" plus the 10-digit phone number for all calls, even if they're calling within the same area code.
The other two options are geographic splits, which would run along rate boundaries. One side of the split would receive 714 while the other would adopt the proposed 657 area code.
"It's very difficult to draw a split line without separating the two pieces of tourism [Huntington Beach and Anaheim] or separating the tourism from the county seat [Santa Ana]," Cocke said.
At the Huntington Beach public comment meeting, the majority of people who spoke preferred the overlay.
About 200 people commented at the three meetings, and the commission received more than 1,500 comments through its website as of Jan. 28.
More than half of those who commented preferred the overlay zone to the plans for a split.
The commission will continue to accept public comments until it makes a decision toward the end of the year.
For more information or to make a comment, go to www.cpuc.ca.gov/714areacode.
----------------------------------------
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Should new phone users be required to adopt a proposed 657 area code in Huntington Beach? Call our Readers' Hotline at (714) 966-4691 or send e-mail to hbindependent@latimes.com. Please spell your name and include your hometown and phone number for verification purposes.
