$90 Million Courthouse Ready for Construction
Porterville Fairgrounds Move Underway
By Rick Elkins

Porterville - Big thins are in store for Porterville in 2010 and most revolve around the construction of a new courthouse.
Escrow closed in December on the 7.4- acre site where the Porterville Fairgrounds sits at 300 E. Olive Ave. and that closure set in motion the move of the fairgrounds and the eventual construction of the $90 million facility.
"It's a huge deal for Porterville," and City Manager John Lollis, adding it's comparable to when Wal-mart located its first California distribution center in the city in the early 1990s.
"It's a great thing to highlight," he added.
The city received $2.14 million for the property it owned, but was leased by the Fairgrounds.
Lollis said funding for the construction has already been allocated. Plans are for the 90,000-square-foot, nine courtroom facility to be completed in late 2012 or early 2013.
Construction will begin late this year or early next year, after the fairgrounds that is home to the community-supported fair every May, moves to its new location southwest of the Porterville Airport, another area where a lot is happening.
"We're kind of excited about what else could happen next to the (new) fairgrounds," said Lollis, adding the city is in talks about developing a regional training facility - one that would be both public and private - near the airport and west of the new fairgrounds.
He said that facility could include a police academy, CHP academy or more and that the city is in talks with 11 partners on the project.
Courthouse
The courthouse, called the South County Justice Center, will be a full-service court, much like the courthouse in Visalia.
"Porterville will be a full-functioning court,"said Gerald Sevier, presiding judge of the court. He said it will handle criminal, misdemeanor, juvenile and family court cases and will have more than four judges to start, with room to grow to as many as nine judges. Tulare County has 19 judicial positions and of those three are in Porterville now and two in Tulare.
"The master plan is to have two court facilities. That suggests there will not be a courthouse in Tulare," he said, adding that no final decision has been made on that. Tulare courthouse, which is owned by the state, could be utilized in some form, similar to the Dinuba facility that serves as a court for minor cases and is staffed by a court commissioner.
Sevier said the courthouse is needed and it will greatly reduce the overcrowded conditions at the Visalia facility. As many as 100 Visalia courthouse workers could end up being moved to the new Porterville Courthouse.
And, said Sevier, it is long overdue to replace the outdated and overcrowded courthouse in Porterville. "The Porterville Court is one of the most deficient in the state," he said, adding it is a priority for the state to make improvements there.
The new courthouse will include additional courtrooms for proposed new judgeships as well as space for court administration, court clerk, court security operations and holding, and building support. The project will also include approximately 315 on-site surface parking spaces for staff and visitors.
Money for the project comes from the State Court Facilities Construction Fund, from court fees and fines, not the state's General Fund.
New Fairgrounds
The 2010 Porterville Fair will be the last at the site that has served it for the more than 50 years.
However, said Porterville Fair Board President John Corkins, the 2011 Fair will not be the first event to be held at the new location. Plans are to hold the 2010 4-H Breakfast at the new site in October, the time the fair is to be out of the old site in downtown Porterville.
Corkins reports work has already begun at the site which is on Tea Pot Dome Road (Ave 128) and Road 224.
He said, "We're building a facility with the vision of 150 years."
The new fairgrounds will sit on 15 acres, with another 10 acres of mutual space.
Corkins is excited about the move, a move that had been talked about for more than 15 years. He said they are building a $3.5 million indoor facility that can handle up to 1,000 people and will replace an old barn that they had to squeeze exhibits into at the old site. The building will also include the fair office and the board of directors' meeting room.
Also included in Phase 1 will be a large livestock pavilion, rabbit barns, the Rotary stage, parking and all the infrastructure.
There are also plans for a Phase 2 in three years and eventually a Phase 3. Corkins said the fairgrounds is used about 120 days a year and the goal is to see it used at least 240 days a year.
He said the roping arena that was part of the old fairgrounds will now be accommodated in the open-air pavilion. That single-span barn, he said, will be constructed to where they can easily expand it if necessary. And, it will be twice as high as the old site's barn - 40 feet high-so it can be used for more things, he said.
City Ballpark
The baseball field that served as the home for many youth baseball games will also be torn down. Lollis said the city is looking at several options on how to replace that.
He said the city received $600,000 in replacement funds to relocated the park and it is looking at options. One would be to partner where there are already ball fields to add more, or even develop a new baseball/softball complex, but he acknowledged that would cost a lot more than $600,000..


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