LYNNWOOD — The city broke ground Wednesday on the controversial Community Justice Center: a new jail with a behavioral health wing, and a police department and misdemeanor court.
During the groundbreaking, a protester lay on the ground as members of the City Council, Mayor Nicola Smith and the police chief used shovels to mark the beginning of the center’s construction. The city officials ignored Elizabeth Lunsford, and once they were finished, she got up.
After a woman died by suicide in July at the current jail, and following two months of trenchant criticism, the Lynnwood City Council approved the more than $56 million construction contract for the center in September in a 6-1 vote.
The justice center will be in the 19300 block of 44th Avenue West, next to the Community Health Center of Snohomish County.
The new jail will have 84 beds. That’s up from the 46 beds at the current jail, but down from the 120 beds originally planned. The initial proposal was re-evaluated after Tirhas Tesfatsion’s death in the existing jail. Her family and others argued the city shouldn’t jump into building a bigger jail when staff couldn’t keep a person safe.
Over the ensuing five weeks, a task force headed by state Rep. Lauren Davis, a Democrat from Shoreline, and police Chief Jim Nelson met to develop the plan. They proposed adding the mental health wing, including behavioral health urgent care, a crisis stabilization unit and a social services hub. The new plan also reduced the number of beds.
A rendering of the Community Justice Center in Lynnwood. (City of Lynnwood)
“As the city has grown over the past 27 years, so has the need for improved and expanded police and court services to include a reimagined jail with a focus on treatment and programming to reduce recidivism,” Nelson said in a news release. “The goal is to provide our most vulnerable community members with substance abuse and mental health treatment while they are in our custody so they have continuity of care and a support system upon their release.”
The reduction in beds means the city will take in less money when it makes beds in the new jail available to nearby cities, Lynnwood finance director Michelle Meyer told the council in September. One bed for a day would cost another city $175. Lynnwood originally planned to make over $1.8 million annually from contracting the center’s beds. The new facility would bring in under $1.1 million.
During a July council meeting, Tesfatsion’s family led a standing-room-only crowd into City Hall to protest the planned Community Justice Center.
“The city of Lynnwood is no place to house human souls for profit,” the family’s attorney, James Bible, said that day.
Mayor Nicola Smith addresses the crowd Wednesday during the groundbreaking for the Community Justice Center in Lynnwood. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
The center’s original price tag, including construction, inspections and other costs, was $64 million, but bids to build it came in high. The price jumped to $69 million. The vast majority of that money will come from bonds; the rest will be from an existing criminal justice sales tax. City officials note new taxes won’t be needed to fund the new facility.
The mental health wing, known as the Community Recovery Center, will be funded separately. It is currently being designed.
Completion is set for late summer or early fall 2023.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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