The Fair Association Board wants to add another lawyer to the court battle over Fairgrounds Road.

Last month, county commissioners agreed to fight the city of Langley on the city’s attempt to get a piece of the county fairgrounds for a new road. The fair board, though, is now trying to get “intervenor” status in the Langley lawsuit.

Langley filed its lawsuit to get the right-of way across a portion of the Island County Fairgrounds on Oct. 13. No date has been set for the lawsuit.

On Oct. 30, the Fair Association Board filed papers in court to intervene in the lawsuit. Intervening means that the fair board’s lawyer, Elaine Spencer, a land-use attorney from Seattle, will be able to address issues raised during the court battle.

A hearing to allow Spencer to intervene is scheduled for

Nov. 13 in Island County Superior Court.

Spencer was hired earlier by the fair board, with fair association money and donated funds. Before the county agreed to take on the fair board’s defense, Spencer had written a memo to commissioners that argued the city’s case was flawed.

County commissioners have said that the county will not pay Spencer’s legal fees.

The county will use David Jamieson, Island County’s chief civil deputy prosecutor, to represent them in court.

During the condemnation suit, 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 then decide if one public use takes priority over the other.

Next, the judge will review the issue of compensation. The appraiser hired by the city estimated that the land needed for the road is worth about $12,000.

The condemnation suit is the culmination of a year-long struggle over a sliver of fairgrounds property.

Langley officials said they need to build a connector road between Al Anderson and Langley roads to handle traffic coming from new and existing housing projects in the area.

All together, the city has offered to purchase 19,030 square feet of the fairgrounds property. 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.

The Langley City Council will get an update by the city’s lawyer today about the condemnation suit.

Attorney Michael Charneski will report to the council about the status of the Fairgrounds Road condemnation process during the regular city council meeting at 6:30 p.m. at city hall. The meeting is open to the public.