County Will Need More Courtrooms For Projected Population Growth

By Al Macias
Published: Monday, August 25, 2014 - 5:05am

Maricopa County will continue to be one of the fastest-growing counties in the country and that means it will need more courtrooms. County supervisors will get a briefing Monday on what will be needed and how much it might cost.

According to a consultant’s study done for the supervisors, Maricopa County will grow by about 800,000 people by 2024. Most of that growth will take place in the western part of the Valley.

The report says 33 more Superior Court courtrooms will be needed in the next ten years, as well as justice courts and support facilities. Many of those new courts will be in existing buildings in downtown Phoenix or in Mesa.

A new court tower would be built on the site of the old and now-empty Madison Street Jail in Phoenix.

The plan also recommends a new regional court in the southwest Valley that would initially house eight courtrooms.

The different projects would go up in phases. Accounting for inflation, the cost is projected to be about $254 million by the time construction would be completed in 2024.

The supervisors will later have to figure out how to pay for the additional courts.