Santa Clarita Courthouse to Close

Last week, according to The California Courts' website, as well as the Los Angeles Times, the State Public Works Board approved a new site for the new Santa Clarita Valley Courthouse, which is slated to replace the current courthouse and courthouse annex on Valencia Boulevard.

These sources indicate that the new Santa Clarita Valley courthouse will be built near the 5 and 126 freeways, contain four courtrooms, and be approximately 54,000 square feet. The new courthouse will also support the addition of up to six additional courtrooms in the future.

According to the California Courts' website, the new courthouse "will replace two unsafe, overcrowded, and physically deficient court facilities."

As we noted in this blog in September, 2011, the felony cases from the Santa Clarita Valley are now being handled in the San Fernando Criminal Courthouse. Based on the above development regarding the new construction, it would seem likely that the current Santa Clarita Courthouse will begin phasing out all criminal cases in the near future, with the logical transfer of cases to the San Fernando Courthouse. While the San Fernando Criminal Courthouse is only 15 minutes away from the current Santa Clarita Court, San Fernando Criminal Courthouse will likely be extremely impacted and busy.

According to the Los Angeles Times' website, the new construction is not slated to begin until 2012, with completion to occur sometime in 2016. While according to the California Courts' website the budget for the Senate Bill supporting this new construction, SB 1407, is not expected to be impacted during the current fiscal year, it is hard to believe that new courthouse construction will remain immune to California's long term budgetary crisis. It would not be surprising to see adjustments in the expected future completion dates, as well as with the administration of thousands of local cases from the Santa Clarita Valley.