Neighbors want fairgrounds issue settled – quick

Published 6:00 am Saturday, December 30, 2006

There is a court battle going on, yet both parties claim they don’t want a fight.

The city of Langley filed a condemnation suit against the county, the owner of the fairgrounds, in October to get the right of way to a small portion of the property to build a connector road after negotiations for an easement with the county and the fair board, the managers of the grounds, failed.

Mayor Neil Colburn said the city tried hard to settle out of court.

“It was our last option,” Colburn has said repeatedly. “The city is always ready to return to the table to talk.”

Dan Ollis, chairman of the Island County Fair Board, said the fair board did not sign up to fight with the city.

“We signed up for the fair and our community, and maybe to make a few people smile. The fair board did not choose to take this discussion to the courts. The city did.”

City officials filed the lawsuit because they need a connector road between Al Anderson and Langley roads to handle traffic from the 53-home development, The Highlands, and existing development.

The court procedures are moving forward and depositions are under way. Ollis was interviewed by the city’s lawyer on Dec. 27. A deposition with Commissioner Mac McDowell is scheduled for Jan. 4. A use and necessity hearing is scheduled for Jan. 17 in Island County Court.

So far no step has been taken toward renewed negotiations.

Neighbors affected by the upcoming Highlands construction traffic are beginning to get nervous. The city made it a condition for the Highlands development that the connector road would be build by the developer. That eased the minds of residents who feared traffic would explode on picturesque, rural Al Anderson Road.

With preliminary construction due to begin in early 2007, some Langley residents have voiced concerns about the lawsuit between the city of Langley and Island County and the resulting delays.

Craig Cyr wrote on the Langley Community Forum that heavy equipment and trucks will be transiting Al Anderson Road.

“They will turn onto Sixth Street and then journey east toward the Middle School parking lot where other construction is underway. And then on by WICA, the east side of the Middle School, the fair grounds, and then down Langley Road. These vehicles will impact the quiet village of Langley in many ways: noise, traffic congestion, safety to pedestrians on Sixth Street and Al Anderson Road, potential debris on roadways, diesel exhaust,” he wrote.

Many neighbors agree and say it is time to let the city and the fair board know that the dispute has been going on too long.

Peter Bennett, who lives at the end of Al Anderson Road said the hold up is frustrating; the Fairgrounds Road will go through eventually even if it takes months and has to go to a vote.

According to Island County code, “to the extent allowed by state law, the fairgrounds property may not be declared surplus, sold or conveyed for private ownership and use without the affirmative consent via an advisory ballot of the voters within the South Whidbey School District.”

If it was to go for a vote, Bennett guessed it would probably pass.

“It’s not a big issue to many people,” he said. “It’s a big issue to the fairgrounds people and a big issue to neighbors. It would pass.”

Many residents support the road. However, the fair board circulated a petition during August’s fair against the road which was signed by 600 people from all across Washington.

But many residents feel it shouldn’t have even gone that far.

“We should let the city, the fairgrounds board and especially the commissioners know that we want this resolved without a court battle – it is a needed alternate exit for over 100 homes; the only way that makes sense,” Bennett said.

Resident Mike Klim was concerned about cost.

“I wish the city and fairgrounds board would work a bit harder to come to some sort of agreement,” he said. “This impasse will become more expensive as time goes on. How many dollars in our dwindling coffers will be diverted to the pockets of lawyers?”

Cyr also said this has gone on too long and it is time to settle.

But that doesn’t seem easy.

Fair officials say all they are trying to protect the fair’s viability.

“It is the board’s wish to protect the fairgrounds and its life,” Ollis said.

“The fair board is concerned with the potential effect from a new city street going through an area that may not seem critical to the average person, but is an intricate part of our camping, staging, and ingress and egress for most of our major trucks and trailers coming to and from the fairgrounds,” Ollis added. “Additionally, we are concerned that a new road will have storm and rain water issues, and where this water will go? How will a new road affect the sloping bank and how much land will this type of retention take? What about security of the Fairgrounds? What happens to the triangular piece that will be cut off? How will the new intersection look, and will it be accommodating to our needs?”

The city claims that the road and additional improvements, like paving the road and fencing, would enhance the fairgrounds rather than hurt them.

City officials have addressed many of the fair board’s concerns publicly and in a letter to the fair board early this year during easement negotiations.

Also, it’s not clear how the new road would impact the future of fair camping. From the beginning of the controversy, the fair board has said it will lose revenue from camping fees if a piece of the campgrounds becomes separated from the main fairgrounds and becomes unusable. But during the county fair in August, the piece of the fairgrounds property that would be cut off by the new road was used as a parking area for just three vehicles.

The larger camping area, which sits adjacent to the log show venue and would not be separated from the main fairgrounds by the new road, also appeared to have vacant spots available.

Ollis said the city has failed to address some simple requests.

“The Island County Fair Board has asked repeatedly for over a year for “engineered drawings,” he said. “We have to date not received any drawings of how any of the above might be handled. We have been told, ‘We will take care of this, and we will make it all work,’ but there have been no drawings that show the board any factual items. I assume that some citizens would appreciate our board’s questions, and would understand that we do not wish to waste any money nor do we wish to waste our precious volunteer time on something we did not sign up for in the beginning.”

Colburn said final engineering drawings were not available, but initial drafts were.

The fair board is also convinced there are alternatives to the route, as well.

“The county commissioners even offered to help the city extend Al Anderson road to Maxwelton, and the city refused,” Ollis said.

City Administrator Walt Blackford said earlier this year that, after careful consideration, the route across the fairgrounds is the best option.

If the court battle continues, the first question that must be decided by the judge is whether the city has the right to take property already used by the public. The judge must decide if one public use takes priority over another.

Next, the compensation will be set. The appraiser hired by the city estimated it to be worth about $12,075. A judge is likely to award more than that for 400 feet of a new connector road would cross the fairgrounds property to handle traffic coming from new and existing housing projects in the area.

The fight over the sliver of fairgrounds property goes back more than a year.

All together, the city has offered to purchase 19,030 square feet. Roughly one-quarter of the land needed follows an existing road on the fairgrounds; the rest would stretch up a bluff and through a forested area.

After being turned down twice by the fair board for an easement request, Langley started taking legal steps to acquire the stretch of the fairgrounds property needed for the new road.

In September, the city offered the county $12,075 for the land. It followed the offer with a condemnation suit in Island County Superior Court in October.

Island County commissioners unanimously voted to fight the city of Langley in court over the city’s proposed Fairgrounds Road, after repeatedly saying they hoped to avoid a court battle.

The fair board was admitted to the lawsuit as an intervener in November.