Portola/Loyalton Courthouse Superior Courts of California, Counties of Plumas and Sierra Initial Funding Year: FY 2006-2007

Overview
Plumas and Sierra Counties are geographically extensive jurisdictions located in the northeastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, north of the Lake Tahoe Region and due west of Reno, Nevada. The populations of the two jurisdictions are small and widely dispersed in this mountainous and rugged area of California.

Superior Court of Plumas County
Currently, the Superior Court of Plumas County provides services from four facilities. The primary location is the County Courthouse in Quincy. Three branch courts serve the dispersed population centers of Chester, Greenville, and Portola.

Superior Court of Sierra County
More than half of the residents in Sierra County live in the northeastern Sierra Valley around the town of Loyalton. However, only a small, leased branch court office is there, and it handles family matters and some court filings. The courthouse is located in the county seat of Downieville, accessible from Loyalton over the mountains through Yuba Pass, which is subject to heavy snow in winter and is an hourlong drive in good weather. The court has conducted all court proceedings for many years in one courtroom in Downieville in a facility shared with numerous county agencies. Regular judicial proceedings occur four days each month in Downieville with trials set as needed.

This project will construct a new one-courtroom, 5,400-square-foot courthouse for shared use by the Superior Courts of Plumas and Sierra Counties. The project will replace the currently leased one-courtroom Portola Branch Courthouse, which is inadequate for current community needs.

Timeline

This project is expected to be completed Spring 2010.

The date is tentative and may be updated at any time.

Reference Documents

Feasibility Report (PDF, June 2006)

Proposed Courthouse Project & California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Compliance (April 23, 2007)
In compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the AOC released a Draft Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration (PDF, 667 KB) for public review on April 20, 2007. The AOC invited comment on this document with a deadline of May 22, 2007 (see Notice of Public Comment Period (PDF, 203 KB)).

Public Meeting, May 2007: Proposed Courthouse and CEQA Compliance
The AOC held a public meeting on May 10, 2007, to discuss the proposed Portola/Loyalton Courthouse project. The AOC invited the public to ask questions and submit comments at this public meeting. The AOC prepared a presentation for the meeting that is available online (see Public Meeting Presentation (PDF, 913 KB)).

For More Information
AOC Office of Court Construction and Management
415-865-8720, occm@jud.ca.gov

Page last updated: May 2008