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Creating New Court Boundaries

About Us Creating New Court Boundaries

IT IS OFFICIAL!

The Maricopa County Justice Courts will open the Canyon Trails Justice Court on January 1, 2027 in the West Valley. It will be the 27th court to join the MCJC family.

Continue reading below to learn how we came to this point.

27th Justice Court

The time has come for Maricopa County to change up justice precincts. Our population and caseloads have grown to a point where Arizona statutes require that either our precinct lines be redrawn or we expand to add a new court. We hope to do both. Here is why:

Maricopa County currently has 26 justice precincts, each led by an elected Justice of the Peace to process many types of cases brought to us from the public, from businesses, and from law enforcement: 

  • criminal misdemeanors (theft, contracting without a license, disorderly conduct, etc.)
  • criminal traffic (DUI, racing, reckless driving, etc.)
  • civil traffic (speeding, HOV violations, driving without insurance, etc.)
  • civil lawsuits (unpaid debt, evictions, etc.)
  • small claims (civil cases under $3,500 but soon to increase to $5,000)
  • protective orders (orders of protection, injunctions against harassment)
  • and more (appeals, expungements, etc.)

These case types generate different amounts of work, both for the judge and for the staff. A complicated formula in ARS 22-125, Section B assigns points- or judicial productivity credits- to each case filed. We call these JPCs.

Section H of the same statute specifies that no court may exceed 1,200 JPCs per year. As of July 2025, three of our courts were over this limit: two in the West and one in the Northwest. A fourth in the East was just one point below the allowable limit. And in the one year since we prepared all this data and presentation material, we now have six courts over that limit. Given population growth projections, we are likely to need even more justice courts in the very near future. But let's start with one.

What We Have Done

The last new justice precinct created was Country Meadows, which opened on January 2, 2013 to serve Avondale and the surrounding areas. It gradually became one of the busiest courts in the County and it is the West Valley once again that drives this need for a new precinct.

Eviction filings make up about 25% of the cases that come to our courts. Other civil cases bring in another 25%. Traffic tickets are the most common at a little more than 40% of our case load, most from the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. 

We received data from these agencies showing the location of each citation they've sent us for the last five years. We plotted those on maps and then added "hotspots" where the population is expected to continue growing the fastest. We even looked at where large multi-housing construction is either underway or planned, as this will undoubtedly affect eviction filings. Finally, we overlaid current justice precinct boundaries and then began work to see where to make the best changes to these lines. 

Our Plan for the Future

Proposed map

In the most basic terms, we need a plan that will equitably balance case filings and workloads among all our courts, and then leave us in a position to accept future growth across the entire county. We believe the best way to do this is to add a 27th justice court in the West and while we are at it, make a number of other precinct line adjustments that more evenly distribute JPCs in the East. Eventually we will need a new court or two there as well.

The map to the left shows our proposal. Clicking this link will open it for you to see, download, and save for closer inspection. When you are looking at or zooming in on the map, note that the thick red lines signify current precinct boundaries, with their JPC count in small white numbers near the name. The proposed new precincts are shown in solid color that may include areas across two or more current precincts, and the new JPC numbers are shown in yellow text.

The most significant changes are these:

  • Divide the White Tank Justice Precinct (serving Buckeye, Goodyear, etc) geographically in half along Interstate 10.
  • The top half retains the name White Tank and absorbs some JPCs from neighboring Country Meadows and Hassayampa.
  • The bottom half becomes the new precinct- Canyon Trails.

Below, we chart the approximate differences between the current and future JPCs after the change: 

Precinct Name JPCs Now JPCs After Net Change Geography
White Tank 1418 872 -546 Buckeye, Goodyear
Country Meadows 1252 1037 -215 Glendale, West Phoenix, Avondale
Hassayampa 1204 986 -218 Surprise, Sun City West, Wickenburg
San Tan 1199 916 -283 Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek
Manistee 1114 952 -162 Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria
South Mountain 1092 1015 -77 South Phoenix
Kyrene 1081 998 -83 Tempe, Ahwatukee, Guadalupe, GRIC
Highland 1078 859 -219 Gilbert/Mesa
Moon Valley 1055 1055 0 North Phoenix
Agua Fria 1017 1017 0 Tolleson, Avondale, West Valley
North Valley 1009 974 -35 North Phoenix, Anthem
West Mesa 1007 1007 0 Mesa, SRPMIC
San Marcos 985 985 0 Chandler, Sun Lakes, GRIC
Arrowhead 964 964 0 Glendale, Peoria, Sun City
Maryvale 929 939 +10 West Phoenix
Desert Ridge 906 890 -16 North Phoenix, Cave Creek
McDowell Mountain 879 818 -61 East & North Phoenix, Scottsdale, Ft. Hills
Encanto 862 888 +26 Central Phoenix
East Mesa 815 983 +168 East Mesa
El Centro 812 889 +77 Downtown Phoenix
Dreamy Draw 798 826 +28 North/Central Phoenix
North Mesa 787 966 +179 Mesa, Fort McDowell
Arcadia Biltmore 746 863 +117 Central/East Phoenix
University Lakes 690 928 +238 Tempe
West McDowell 685 857 +172 Central Phoenix
Ironwood 321 321 0 Buckeye, Gila Bend, Mobile
Canyon Trails 0 900 +900 Buckeye, Goodyear, Tohono O'odham Nation

Again, these are projected JPCs based on filing and population data current as of January 1, 2025.

Additional Minor/Technical Changes

In addition, the Maricopa County Elections Department had some very small changes to other voting precincts. In a redistricting effort after the 2020 census, several voting precincts were left with no voters in them. These are small areas of land known as "non-voting precincts", or NVPs which the Elections Department wished to merge into neighboring precincts that do have voters.

These changes did not affect Justice Court operations or case filings; eliminate these NVPs simplifies maps and data. They are as follows: 

  1. Move NVP 1 to South Mountain Justice Court in order to merge NVP 1 into South Mtn Park South VP.
  2. Move NVP 2 to West Mesa Justice Court in order to merge NVP 2 into June VP.
  3. Move NVP 5 to Kyrene Justice Court in order to merge NVP 5 into Pointe VP.
  4. Move NVP 6 to Kyrene Justice Court in order to merge NVP 6 into Diablo VP.
  5. Move NVP 7 to Kyrene Justice Court in order to merge NVP 7 into Diablo VP.
  6. Move NVP 12 to Ironwood Justice Court in order to merge NVP 12 into Rainbow Valley VP.
  7. Move NVP 13 to Ironwood Justice Court in order to merge NVP 13 into Salome VP.
  8. Move NVP 14 to Hassayampa Justice Court in order to merge NVP 14 into Aguila VP.
  9. Move NVP 15 to San Tan Justice Court in order to merge NVP 15 into Williams Field VP.
  10. Move NVP 16 to Ironwood Justice Court in order to merge NVP 16 into Rainbow Valley VP.
  11. Move NVP 17 to South Mountain Justice Court in order to merge NVP 17 into South Mtn Park SW VP.
  12. Move NVP 18 to Agua Fria Justice Court in order to merge NVP 18 into Pee-Posh VP.
  13. Move NVP 22 to Agua Fria Justice Court in order to merge NVP 22 into Komatke VP. (Gila River IC)
elections map

You can use the Maricopa County Interactive Election District Map to search for any of these non-voting precincts.

Go to the web site below and in the search window on the left side of the page, enter "NVP [x]" as shown in the example image here.

https://recorder.maricopa.gov/reviewer/default.htm

Public Presentations

Gavel and keyboard

We did not suggest these changes lightly or alone. Court customers have a voice in the process.

The Maricopa County Justice Courts held two public meetings this summer to present this formally to the public and to take your questions. These public meetings were virtual on the Microsoft Teams platform to facilitate attendance by computer, tablet, or smart phone. These meetings were: 

Once those were done, we presented a similar plan to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for their vote: