County Council report shows three locations for new Whatcom jail

Whatcom County Council members got their first look at a report from a panel of residents and government officials who for the past year have been discussing a new jail.

Their 110-page “Whatcom County Justice Project Needs Assessment” identifies possible jail locations and funding sources, along with a range of social programs and jail alternatives that members of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee said go hand-in-hand with criminal justice.

“This is going to be a road map on how we implement the next steps and get to building a new (jail) facility,” said Council President Barry Buchanan, who also was a member of the advisory committee.

Buchanan said there was a “broad consensus” that a new jail is needed in a meeting of the Whatcom County Council’s Committee of the Whole on Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 7.

Members of the advisory committee favored three possible locations for a new jail, all on land already owned by Whatcom County:

▪ A site in the Irongate industrial area, near the Jail Work Center and the Anne Deacon Crisis Triage Center.

▪ The parking lot south of the Whatcom County Courthouse and the current jail.

▪ A site on LaBounty Drive in Ferndale, where plans for a jail were scrapped after ballot measures to fund it failed in 2015 and 2017.

In a presentation to the council on Tuesday, jail advisory committee member Stephen Gockley said that the group’s mission statement addresses crime prevention as a way to reduce incarceration, along with a range of social programs that are part of the criminal-legal system.

Advisory committee member Jack Hovenier told the council that a new jail isn’t the only consideration.

“To be successful, we need a balance between investments in services and facilities that keep people out of jail,” Hovenier told the council.

More behavioral health facilities and staff are needed, and also more housing for people who are released from jail, he said.

Whatcom County’s current jail, which is 40 years old, is considered too small for current needs and requires millions of dollars in safety renovations.

“We need a new jail. We need a new jail. And I think that’s pretty well understood,” Hovenier said.

Although the advisory committee listed three possible locations for the jail, its cost, funding and timeline for construction weren’t answered in the report.

“More information is needed to consider cost and feasibility for each site. There are pros and cons to all of them. We’re hopeful that these principles guide both the Executive’s Office and the (County) Council in making those decisions,” Hovenier said.

No action was taken Tuesday, but Buchanan said that a ballot measure seeking voter approval for a funding source would be ready by June.

Future plans call for a town hall meeting along with public hearings on the jail and its funding, Buchanan said.