BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Whatcom County is looking to purchase a building from Western Washington University.

County Facilities Director Rob Ney gave a presentation to the county council earlier Tuesday, Jan. 27 about the ongoing talks with the university.

Ney said that the current home of the Planning and Development Department called the Northwest Annex is roughly 100 years old, and the county has looked to replace it for many years.

The university property, south of WWU’s campus on 32nd Street, currently houses the university’s Testing and Passport Services as well as their IT department.

The county had previously established a fund to build a new facility to replace the Northwest Annex, located just south of Ferndale on Smith Road. The fund currently holds roughly $2.5 million from previous sales.

But, according to a memo from Ney, the new building option would have required over $60 million to just complete phase 1 of construction.

The prospective takeover would include selling the WWU property assessed at roughly an $8 million value to the county, allowing the university to continue operations on the second floor of the building for the next two years. No price for the property has been set, and Ney mentioned the university may pay no rent the first year and take the second year of rent off the sale price.

Councilmembers John Scanlon, Mark Stremler and Ben Elenbaas all voiced there may be pushback from developers to visit a building within Bellingham city limits when developing in unincorporated Whatcom County.

Planning Director Mark Personius responded to those concerns, countering that it may actually be a better situation for developers.

“One of the frustrations we often get from some folks is that now, because of the recording requirements for a lot of these permits or conservation easements or covenants, folks complain that they come out here, to the [Northwest Annex] to get something approved or signed, then they have to drive into town to the courthouse to get it recorded,” Personius said via Zoom during the council’s Finance and Administrative Services Committee meeting. “In that sense, it might actually be a little more efficient for folks.”

Money to purchase the university property would come from the original fund for the new building as well as cut into the Hovander Park Building Improvements Project, potentially reassigning $1.2 million of the project to assist in the building purchase.

The county council will decide whether to greenlight the sale at a later meeting.