Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : 7,700 Will Need New Phone Numbers : Utilities: Pacific Bell blames a capacity shortage. The East Palmdale and Littlerock clients have until October, 1994, to make the change.

About 7,700 Pacific Bell customers in East Palmdale and Littlerock will have to obtain new telephone numbers in the coming months because of a capacity shortage at the utility’s Palmdale office.

The company recently began sending letters to these customers, but the notification process will not be finished until late January, said Anita Gabrielian, public affairs manager for Pacific Bell.

Affected customers will have until October, 1994, to change their numbers, but Pacific Bell alerted them early so that users could make the switch whenever it is most convenient to change stationery and notify friends, family and business associates, Gabrielian said.

“The area has been booming,” she said. “We ran out of capacity in the central office” serving Palmdale.

To provide expanded service, the utility plans to open a second Palmdale equipment station on 47th Street East in April, 1995. The areas served by the new station must switch to two new prefixes--285 and 533. The area code will remain the same.

Affected customers must have a new number by October so that the following year’s directories will be accurate, Gabrielian said.

The area where customers must get new phone numbers is bounded roughly by Avenue Q on the north, the Littlerock Wash on the east, the Angeles National Forest on the south and 31st Street East on the west.

About 600 business customers will be affected, but more than 7,000 others are residential users, Gabrielian said. There will be no charge for changing the phone numbers, she said.

Affected customers can set up their new phone numbers by calling Pacific Bell at (800) 778-2452.