New Courthouse Project

The Greenfield Civic Center is the home of City Government. Offices located at the Center include the Police Department, City Council, City Clerk, City Manager and Utility Billing. Business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Civic Center is the first projected developed by the City in anticipation of the construction of a new Courthouse for South Monterey County.

About the New Courthouse

The recommended project-construction of a new 3-courtroom facility in Greenfield will replace the King City Courthouse no longer in operation. It will also provide space for the court's new judgeship from proposed SB 1150 (Corbett). The increase from 2 existing to 3 new courtrooms will provide expanded court services through increased judicial-proceedings capacity.
The front of the Civic Center. A tan building with glass doors in front.
Overcrowding at the courthouse in Monterey and at the Salinas Courthouse Complex will be reduced, as south-county matters would then be appropriately heard in this new south county Greenfield facility. By siting this courthouse in Greenfield, the county's largest growing population area, it will serve current and future needs, with the capacity for a future building addition for one future new judgeship.

The proposed new courthouse will accomplish the following immediately needed improvements to the superior court and enhance its ability to serve the public:
  • Replace the unsafe and physically deficient King City Courthouse
  • Expand court services-including the return of civil and small claims case processing to the southern part of the county-by increasing judicial-proceedings capacity, moving from 2 to 3 courtrooms to accommodate one new judgeship from proposed Senate Bill (SB) 1150 (Corbett)
  • Enhance access to court services by expanding to a full-service courthouse for south county residents, enabling the court to operate more effectively and efficiently in the south county area. This project returns civil, including jury trials, and small claims case processing to the south county area, eliminating the need for south county residents to drive from 65 to upwards of 100 miles for these services
  • Provide basic services heretofore not provided to south county area residents due to space restrictions: a self-help center, a jury assembly room, a children's waiting room, adequately-sized in-custody holding, an alternative dispute resolution center, attorney interview/witness waiting rooms, and the capability to hold proceedings on state prison cases in the same region in which they are derived-from the state prison facilities in the City of Soledad, instead of 50 miles away at the Salinas Courthouse Complex
  • Provide site capacity for a future building addition for one future new judgeship, among those in the 211 future new judge ships for which funding has not been requested by the Judicial Council
  • Reduce case load processing and overcrowding at the existing Monterey County Courthouse and at the Salinas Courthouse Complex, by shifting civil and small claims cases to the new courthouse
Located across the Street from the Civic Center, the Superior Court of California, County of Monterey will serve the residents of Monterey County with 6 separate locations, with the King City Division (formerly operating out of the King City Courthouse) being the only one located in the City of Greenfield. This facility will primarily serve the south-county cities, such as Soledad, King City, Greenfield, and Gonzales.