Judicial Council Launches Environmental Review for Fresno Courthouse
On December 2 court officials announced the launch of an environmental impact report for a proposed $750 million replacement courthouse in Downtown Fresno, and they scheduled a public meeting for December 11 to gather community feedback. The project would reshape the downtown legal complex, affecting jail and sheriff facilities, public open space, and taxpayer obligations for years to come.
California court officials announced on December 2 that they had launched an environmental impact report for a proposed $750 million courthouse in Downtown Fresno. The Judicial Council of California invited public comment at a community meeting set for Wednesday, December 11 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Fresno Courthouse jury assembly room. The announcement marks the next formal step in a project approved by the Judicial Council in 2023 to replace the nearly 60 year old main courthouse.
The preferred plan calls for an 11 story building on a 2.09 acre parcel immediately north of the existing courthouse. The facility would contain 36 courtrooms and about 413,000 square feet of space. Implementing that option would require demolition of the existing sheriff headquarters and the south annex jail building, a change that would force relocation of those county functions during planning and construction. Two alternatives remain under consideration, one on open space in the courthouse park near Fresno Street and Van Ness Avenue, and another on a vacant parcel at Fresno and M streets just east of the Fresno County Jail.
The replacement initiative addresses longstanding maintenance and space problems. The current downtown courthouse is almost six decades old and carries more than $42 million in deferred maintenance liabilities. The new building is also intended to replace the North Annex Jail and the leased M Street Courthouse. The project is currently in the acquisition phase and is planned for delivery through a design build process. Construction is estimated to begin in November 2028 with completion slated for November 2031.
For Fresno residents the proposal raises several local concerns. The environmental impact report will examine traffic, noise, air quality and other effects under California environmental law, and the chosen site will determine whether public open space is preserved or whether demolition would disrupt law enforcement and corrections operations. The price tag and multi year construction timetable also carry implications for county and state budgeting, courthouse access and downtown traffic patterns. The December 11 community meeting provides the primary public opportunity to question site selection, mitigation measures and project phasing before the environmental review advances.
