Porterville Courthouse Superior Court of California, County of Tulare Initial Funding Year: FY 2007-2008

Facts Courtrooms: 9 Square footage: 90,000 Estimated total cost: $91.2 million Current status: site acquisition/preliminary plans Architect: CO Architects Expected completion: early 2013	Video Transcript (PDF) California Court News report If you are having trouble viewing the video, see "How do I access audio and video files".
Documents Fact Sheet (PDF) Feasibility Report (PDF)

Overview
The County of Tulare currently has five court locations: the Tulare County Courthouse and the Juvenile Justice Facility in Visalia, the Tulare-Pixley Court Building in the City of Tulare, the Porterville Government Center in Porterville, and the Dinuba Court Building in Dinuba. The Tulare County Courthouse is the main facility; the other facilities serve as branch court locations. Due to significant projected population growth in the Porterville area over the next 20 years, the court has envisioned the need to create two main service regions, a North Justice Center in Visalia and a South Justice Center based in Porterville. The new nine courtroom Porterville Courthouse, to include the entire three-courtroom operation from the existing Porterville Government Center and one courtroom function from the Tulare-Pixley Court, will replace facilities that have poor security, are overcrowded, and have many physical problems.

This project, the new Porterville Courthouse, will become the South Justice Center of the county and will serve both limited and unlimited jurisdiction cases. In order to consolidate other court functions into the two regional justice centers, the court will divide the functions at the Tulare-Pixley and Dinuba locations into the North and South Justice Centers. Because of limited expansion options at the existing Porterville Government Center location, the new facility will be located on an independent site. This projected facility size will be approximately 90,000 square feet.

In September 2009, the AOC received approval from the state Public Works Board to acquire a 7.4 acre property at 300 East Olive Avenue, currently the site of the Porterville Fairgrounds and Municipal Ballpark, for the new courthouse. The property is owned by the City of Porterville, which agreed in August 2009 to sell the parcel to the state for $2.14 million, its appraised value. The City of Porterville plans to relocate the fairgrounds to a location near the airport. The AOC expects to close escrow by the end of November 2009.
News release (PDF)

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Compliance

The AOC is the lead agency for preparation of an environmental report to comply with CEQA.

Background

June 4, 2009, to July 3, 2009: Draft Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration circulated. The draft study evaluated the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project and recommended mitigation measures.

June 25, 2009: Public meeting held.

In response to public comments, the AOC completed a Final Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration (PDF, 3.2 MB).

On August 4, 2009, the AOC filed a Notice of Determination (PDF), thereby completing the CEQA process.

For More Information
AOC Office of Court Construction and Management
415-865-4900, occm@jud.ca.gov

Page last updated: Tuesday, 02-Feb-2010 11:56:19 PST