Whatcom Justice Project · Investigation

The Jail Project: 13 years, two sites, and the money no one is tracking

The county bought jail land in 2013, spent years and consultant dollars planning it, then walked away to buy a different site in 2026. Here is the record — the part the county’s own page never shows end to end.

By the Whatcom Justice Project · a project of the Real Housing Reform Initiative

How to read this. Every figure below is from public records and news reporting, sourced at the end. We name decisions and dollars, not motives. The point is simple: big public-safety dollars have moved for over a decade, and no single place keeps the running tally. So we do — and we track the money live on Jail Project Watch.

Whatcom County is building a new jail. The official story is a clean one: voters approved a tax in 2023, a site was chosen, design is underway. What that story leaves out is the thirteen years, the two properties, and the spending that came before — and a facility that has quietly shrunk even as its price has climbed.

The timeline the county doesn’t draw

2013 — The county buys the LaBounty Drive site in Ferndale as its future jail, for $6 million. It also hires the architect DLR Group for planning and pre-design.
2013–2014 — DLR is paid in a series of contracts (roughly $0.4M, $0.75M, and $0.83M — about $2 million) for pre-design, environmental scoping, and schematic design. DLR recommends an 844-bed facility at $150 million.
Nov 2015 — Voters reject a 0.2% sales-tax measure to fund the jail.
Nov 2017 — Voters reject a second 0.2% measure.
2021–2023 — The county commissions a new Needs Assessment; the report is accepted in January 2023.
2023 — A 0.2% public-safety sales tax passes. Collection begins April 1, 2024; 100% flows into the Public Safety & Justice Facility Fund.
2024–2026 — More consultants: an Architectural & Engineering contract ($435,000), a funding-model advisor (PFM), and an owner’s representative / project manager (STV).
March 2026 — The county abandons LaBounty and puts an offer on a different site — Hannegan Road, 19 acres inside Bellingham, for $4.07 million — citing budget and wetland-mitigation savings.

Thirteen years after buying LaBounty for $6M, the county is buying a second parcel for $4M — and the first sat unused the whole time. Part of that gap is real: voters turned the funding down twice. But the site the county spent $6M on is now the site it’s leaving.

Half the jail, higher price

The facility voters are getting is not the facility that was first drawn up. The bed count has been cut roughly in half from the original 2014 plan — while the cost has gone up, and, by the county’s own account, the in-custody treatment and housing features have been trimmed for budget.

	2014 plan (DLR)	Current plan (2026)
Beds	844	480
Cost	$150 million	$170–200 million
Services	Full program	Fewer housing-style options & in-custody services

More money, fewer beds, fewer of the treatment features that made this “not just a jail.” That is the trade the record shows.

The question no one is asking

The county has built a real accountability framework on paper — a performance-measurement plan and a public data-tracking site that even asks the right question: “Is anyone better off?” But that framework measures the programs going forward. It does not look back at the capital decisions: the $6M parcel now being left behind, the second parcel being bought, the years of studies and consultants, the facility that shrank.

Who owned each of those decisions? And what changed for anyone when they went sideways? So far, the answer is: no one, and nothing. The dollars are treated as sunk — a series of “whoopsies” that no report adds up. This page exists to add them up, and to keep adding them, as the numbers come in.

Still being confirmed. The full professional-services total (every planning, design, and management contract, 2013–present) is the subject of an open public-records request; we’ll publish the running figure as records arrive. If any number here is off, tell us and we’ll correct it in the open.

Sources & method. Land purchase, tax-measure history, and project timeline: Whatcom County “Project History,” Whatcom Watch jail timeline, and The Northern Light (2023 ballot). Consultant contracts 2013–14: Northwest Citizen. Site switch, bed count, cost, and service reductions: Cascadia Daily News (March 25, 2026) and county FAQs. Figures are as reported; the consultant total is partial pending records. Aggregate reporting only; no individuals are named.