{"id":88052,"date":"2025-12-09T20:19:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T20:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/88052\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T20:19:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T20:19:07","slug":"what-should-new-fresno-courthouse-look-like-public-workshop-on-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/88052\/","title":{"rendered":"What Should New Fresno Courthouse Look Like? Public Workshop on Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresno County Superior Court could get a completely new building downtown if a plan from the Judicial Council of California gets a green light.<\/p>\n

And if the plan comes to fruition, that would trigger a move for the Fresno County Sheriff\u2019s Office headquarters to a new downtown location.<\/p>\n

A workshop will be held Thursday to inform the public about details for the nearly $750 million project. On the agenda: proposed locations, a project description, and potential environmental impacts of new construction.<\/p>\n

New Courthouse Workshop<\/p>\n

When: Thursday, Dec. 11, 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
Where: Fresno Courthouse Jury Assembly Room
1100 Van Ness Ave., Fresno<\/p>\n

The judicial council\u2019s ideal plan puts a new 11-story, 413,000-square foot courthouse yards away from the current one, where the sheriff\u2019s office stands.<\/p>\n

The current courthouse is 8 stories and opened in 1966 after the county\u2019s original, neo-classical style courthouse was demolished. The demolition stirred controversy that still reverberates in Fresno today.<\/p>\n

What would be 36 new courtrooms replaces the previous 35 for a building the council says is \u201csubstantially out of compliance with regulatory safety, seismic, accessibility codes, and Judicial Council space standards,\u201d according to the state court website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong its significant functional issues are its undersized lobby and space for entrance screening, too few elevators to accommodate the high volume of daily court users, undersized\/lack of space for jurors to assemble as well as deliberate, lack of holding facilities, no secure attorney-client interview rooms, and no path of circulation for in-custodies separate from the public and judicial officers and staff,\u201d the proposal states.<\/p>\n

The proposal would consolidate the main county courthouse, the North Jail Annex, and the M Street Courthouse.<\/p>\n

County communications director Sonja Dosti said that county leadership has had ongoing meetings with the state to weigh their needs.<\/p>\n

\"\"The proposed new Fresno County Superior Court would consolidate the main courthouse, the M Street Courthouse, and the North Jail Annex judicial operations. (Judicial Council of California)
\nSheriff\u2019s Office Would Have Ample Time to Select New HQ<\/p>\n

Sheriff\u2019s spokesperson Tony Botti said he first heard about a possible move for the sheriff\u2019s office before the state faced its projected $18 billion deficit for the upcoming year.<\/p>\n

While he has heard since then that the project is moving forward, it does not have a solid timeline. Being told ahead of time means the sheriff has time to plan and find a strategic location.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fortunate thing is, we have a lot of time,\u201d Botti told GV Wire. \u201cWe heard this a while ago. It\u2019s already in our minds that we should start looking at other options if and when the day comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

They have begun looking at other locations, but the county can\u2019t just pick any building.<\/p>\n

A new building would have to be fortified to meet the sheriff\u2019s extensive security needs, Botti said. Unlike other county agencies, the sheriff\u2019s office would want to remain downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cStaying situated downtown is ideal because of the sheriff\u2019s operations,\u201d Botti said.<\/p>\n

\"\"A site plan shows how the proposed new Fresno County Superior Courthouse would be situated in Courthouse Park. (Judicial Council of California)
\nBigger Lobby, Jury Services, Security Intake<\/p>\n

On the two acres where the sheriff\u2019s office and South Jail Annex are now, the 11-story building would go up. An enlarged lobby and bottom floor would have a new jury services room, an expanded intake, and space for food.<\/p>\n

Courts would begin on the third floor. A system of tunnels currently connect the courthouse to the sheriff\u2019s office and the Fresno County Jail on the north side of Fresno Street.<\/p>\n

According to the project description, those tunnels would have to be rerouted. A parking subfloor would also be built beneath the courthouse.<\/p>\n

An alternative plan locates the new courthouse along Van Ness Avenue rather than Fresno Street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresno County Superior Court could get a completely new building downtown if a plan from the Judicial Council…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-88052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}