State Government

10-Digit Local Calls Coming to Charlotte

By Steve Tuttle

Picking what it said was the least-objectionable solution, the N.C. Utilities Commission voted 6-1 on Sept. 15 to “overlay” a second area code within the existing 704 area code region, meaning that all local calls there will require dialing 10 numbers once the plan goes into effect.

Rapid population growth in the region around Charlotte, plus surging demand for fax lines and cellular phones, was quickly draining the availability of unassigned numbers in the region, the commission said. That essentially left the Utilities Commission with two choices — the “overlay” plan or splitting the 704 region into two separate area codes. But that would mean that thousands of customers would have to be assigned new telephone numbers. There was a huge public outcry when the commission took that latter step last year in the Triad area.

Although it's expected to take 18 months to implement the conversion, officials said the process will begin this month when the new area code will be assigned within the current 704 region by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator, an agency managed for the federal government by Lockheed Martin IMS. The next step will follow in late October or early November when all telephone companies providing service in the 704 region must file comments with the Utilities Commission proposing the steps they will take to implement the 10-digit dialing plan.

Everyone in the 704 region, which includes Charlotte, will keep their current phone numbers and area code. Once the plan is in place, all new phone, fax, data and cellular lines will be assigned to the “overlay” area code. That means it is likely that many businesses and residential customers will have telephones in the same locations with different area codes.

The Utilities Commission stressed that there won't be any toll charges for local calls, even though they will be dialed the same as long distance.

In its order, the Commission said it was “extremely concerned” that customers receive sufficient information about the change. The agency directed all telephone company providers in the 704 region to begin customer education and outreach efforts “as soon as possible.”

Although the Charlotte area will be the first in the state to have 10-digit local dialing, Utilities Commission Chairman Joanne Sanford said a meeting has been scheduled for November to begin planning what to do in the 919 area code, where available numbers are running out.

Such “overlay” numbering systems already are used in New York City, Atlanta and the entire state of Maryland.

Supreme Court Decision: Everyone makes mistakes, including, apparently, the North Carolina Supreme Court.

In a little-noticed opinion issued in late August, the high court did an about-face and said that cities cannot in fact create far-reaching environmental programs and pay for them through fees that fall disproportionately on businesses and other large property owners. That's not what the court said the first time it considered the so-called Smith Chapel case.

Here's the background. In 1994 Durham took steps to improve its stormwater collection system, as it was required to do under the federal Clean Water Act. But to fully comply with the federal regulations, Durham needed to do much more than build better storm drains. It needed to initiate broad-based community programs to minimize water pollution, such as opening used-oil recycling centers and catching people who dump hazardous materials.

To recover its capital investment in storm drains and to fund the on-going costs of the overall program, the city imposed fees on property owners proportionate to the amount of pavement on their property.

Businesses immediately hollered that the fees fell unfairly on them, but it was Smith Chapel Baptist Church and three other Durham churches, all of which have large paved parking lots, that took the city to court. A trial court agreed with the churches that Durham's method of paying for its new environmental programs was illegal. Cities can levy property taxes and sales taxes, the trial court said, but this was a new kind of tax not allowed under the state constitution.

Durham appealed, and the N.C. Supreme Court, hearing the case on expedited review, in July 1998 overturned the trial court's ruling in an opinion that left many corporate attorneys scratching their heads. Those business interests, backed by amicus briefs from NCCBI and others, returned to the court with petitions for review, which were granted in January.

On Aug. 20, the court, in a 4-3 opinion, abruptly changed its mind. In a skillful bit of wording that court watchers said protects some egos but which leaves the official record a bit muddy, the court issued a new opinion “which supersedes the previous opinion filed by this court.”

Writing for the majority, Associate Justice George L. Wainwright Jr. said Durham's stormwater regulations and fees “went well beyond the scope of authority granted to the city” by the legislature under laws empowering cities to finance the construction and operation of such systems. He also directed the city to issue full refunds with interest to the plaintiffs.

“From its description,” Justice Wainwright wrote, “it appears that little of the program's emphasis is on the maintenance and construction of a structural and natural stormwater and drainage system. The program instead focuses on educational programs, guidance manuals, used oil recycling, household hazardous waste collection, and enforcement efforts against illegal dumping of hazardous materials.” Those are worthy causes, Wainwright wrote, but ones that should be paid out of the city's General Fund.

Joining Wainwright, a Republican elected to the high court last year, were Republican Justices Robert Orr, I. Beverly Lake Jr. and Mark Martin.

In a dissenting opinion, then-Associate Justice Henry E. Frye, who recently was appointed chief justice by Gov. Jim Hunt, said “I believe that the majority takes an unduly narrow view of the city's authority.” Joining Frye in the dissent were then Chief Justice Burley Mitchell, who has since retired from the bench and Associate Justice Sarah Parker.

Steve Tuttle can be reached at stuttle@nccbi.org or by calling 919-836-1411.

COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. This article first appeared in the October 1999 issue of North Carolina magazine.