The Board of Island County Commissioners yesterday unofficially approved ending the county’s 54-year ownership of the historic Langley fairgrounds and transferring ownership to the Port of South Whidbey, pending a public vote on the matter.

The informal approval will likely prompt the Port by March 31 to sign a second one-year lease to manage the fairgrounds, said Port Commissioner Curt Gordon after the commissioners’ regular Tuesday meeting. It will also let the Port start preparing an August referendum asking some South Whidbey voters whether the Port should take ownership and whether the voters are willing to let the Port raise its levy limit on their property taxes to support fairgrounds maintenance and grant-matching.

The board yesterday stopped short of formally approving a transfer should the referendum pass. “There are questions from my constituents that I want to have answered, and until that’s done, I don’t want to take a formal action,” said Commissioner Helen Price Johnson. “(But) I think we’re moving in that direction, and I think we’ll get there.”

Chairman Rick Hannold told Gordon, “You get a head nod from me,” and Commissioner Jill Johnson added, “I’m happy to give you a head-nod today.”

Detailing her concerns, Price Johnson said she had asked Larry Van Horn, the county’s facilities manager, to talk with the island’s 4-H clubs “to make sure we’re addressing their needs going forward.”

After the meeting, Gordon said the port will likely call a meeting within the next few days, to which the public is invited, to “see what my fellow commissioners want to do.” He said that because the Port has now received the county’s assurance it will transfer the fairgrounds if the referendum succeeds, the Port will sign a new management lease on the fairgrounds before the current one expires, on March 31.

“Whether that ballot measure passes or fails, we’ll honor the new lease,” he pledged.

The referendum would be voted on only by residents within the port’s jurisdiction.

The commissioners’ unofficial approval of ownership transfer means defeat for a proposal by the Island County Fair Association under which it would have managed the fairgrounds and the county would have continued its ownership.