Mendocino County, New Ukiah Courthouse

Mendocino County, New Ukiah Courthouse

The Superior Court of California, County of Mendocino - New Ukiah Courthouse project provides a new 7-courtroom courthouse of 82,000 square feet in the city of Ukiah. It includes secured parking for judicial officers and approximately 160 surface parking spaces for jurors and the public, with solar power generation capability. The project will be located on a previously acquired site located in the city of Ukiah. It will replace one existing facility: the Mendocino County Courthouse. The project will use the Design-build delivery method.

Gross Square Footage: 81,169
Total Courtrooms: 7
Current Authorized Project Budget: $144,924,000
Criteria Architect: Cannon Parkin, Inc. (dba Cannon Design)
Design-Build Entity: Hensel Phelps | Fentress Architects

• Design-Build Architect: Fentress Architects
• Design-Build Contractor: Hensel Phelps

Construction Management Agency: Kitchell CEM, Inc.
Fund: General Fund

Mendocino County is primarily served by its centrally located Mendocino County Courthouse in Ukiah, with limited service by a branch courthouse in Fort Bragg. The Mendocino County Courthouse hears all case types, though it is substantially out of compliance with regulatory safety, seismic, accessibility codes, and Judicial Council space standards. It has no secure in-custody access and circulation as well as two entire floors without elevators or ADA accessibility. The project will replace this 7-courtroom county-owned courthouse.

For this project, a site of approximately 4.10 acres was acquired off East Perkins Street in the city of Ukiah.

The New Ukiah Courthouse will accomplish the following immediately needed improvements to the superior court and enhance its ability to serve the public:

• Provide an accessible, safe, and efficient full-service courthouse.
• Improve security, relieve overcrowding, improve operational efficiency and customer service.
• Provide court operations in a facility with adequate space for greater functionality than in current conditions, including:
  • Safe and secure internal circulation that maintains separate zones for the public, staff, and in-custody defendants.
  • Adequate visitor security screening and queuing in the entrance area.
  • Provides attorney-client interview rooms.
  • Improves public service, including an adequately sized self-help area.
  • Has ADA accessible spaces.
  • Adequate staff workstations and meeting spaces.
  • Jury assembly with capacity for typical jury pools.
  • Facility with dependable physical infrastructure.
  • Secure, dedicated in-custody defendant vehicle sally port and secure in-custody holding areas.
• Realize court operational efficiencies and savings from improved space adjacencies and elevator access to each floor.
• Replace the existing Mendocino County Courthouse, which is rated as a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) P-154 High-Risk, seismically deficient building.
• Avoid over $9 million in deferred maintenance and security refresh expenditures.

Due to insufficient resources in the Immediate and Critical Needs Account, and at its meeting on August 26, 2016, the Judicial Council had made a policy decision to complete the site acquisition phase then hold until funding could be restored. In FY 2021–22, this project was reactivated utilizing a new delivery method.

This project is in the Immediate Need priority group and consequently is one of the highest priority trial court capital-outlay projects for the judicial branch.

This project is currently in the Design-Build phase.

Construction is estimated to begin in February 2025 and complete in November 2027.