The new building is a 74,000-square-foot cross that cost about $78 million for the land, design and construction. It features glass on all sides. The courtrooms are in the middle of the building.
Mary Beth Todd is the Court Executive Officer. According to her, the courthouse consolidates two outdated buildings in old downtown Yuba City.
"We needed space. We needed better security. We needed facilities that didn’t require constant repair," she says. "One courthouse was 100 years old the other one was built back in the 1960's."
Eleanor Frank Bordsen is an attorney and says the county courts have been in as many as four buildings in previous years.
"I think it (the new building) is wonderful," she says. "It's visually beautiful and it looks like it will be practical."
According to Todd, the architects went with a "four courtyard approach" in designing the building.
"The purpose was to bring in as much light as possible,"Todd says. "If you stand down in the lobby, if you stand kind of in front of the clerk's office you can see all four courtyards and you can see how that light is coming through."
A 2008 California state law allocated $5 billion for 40 new courthouses including this one.
Follow us for more stories like this
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today