Mike Shelton has an apocalyptic vision that one day soon, the Island County Fair could blow up.

It won’t happen because of an explosive device. Rather, hard feelings are running so deep over a road dispute that many volunteers could walk away from the situation, leaving the fair with no one to put it on.

Shelton, the long-time Island County commissioner who represents District 1, which includes the fairgrounds in Langley, said the disagreement between those who run the fair and the city of Langley is so heated that “the fair could be hanging in the balance.”

“Will all those people walk away?” Shelton asked of the many volunteers who make the fair happen every August. “If they do, we won’t have a fair.”

At this point, no one is publicly threatening a walkout, but fair organizers are clearly tired of the stress caused by the conflict and the large amount of time it takes away from their simple goal of putting on the fair.

“Friends of mine are starting to argue with me about the fair,” said fair board member Klaas Zuiderbaan earlier this week. “I didn’t sign up for this kind of garbage.”

The fair board is presently embroiled in a property condemnation procedure initiated by the city of Langley. The city wants to take advantage of a new 53-unit housing development on Al Anderson Road to put a new road through to Langley Road. This will allow a separate access to the new development and other homes in the area of the town cemetery, for both safety and practical reasons. The city chose a route skirting the southern border of fairgrounds property, and opted for condemnation after negotiations to purchase the land fell through.

Island County owns the fairgrounds, but a road can’t be built there without approval of the 10-member fair board.

The city doesn’t want a lot of land, but to fairgrounds supporters, any land is too much. Marilyn Gabelein, whose family has been a pillar of the fair for many years, said the Island County fairgrounds is, at 12 acres in size, already the smallest in the state.

“We have 12 acres and we’re going to lose two,” Gabelein said.

Walt Blackford, administrator for the city of Langley, said the proposed road would run 450-feet through fair property in a curved line along the boundary at the back edge of the fairgrounds, totaling some 20,000 square feet. “Only 40 feet of that crosses flat ground,” he said. “The rest is up in the woods.”

Plastic flags placed by the city roughly show the road’s route. To the casual observer, it doesn’t look like it would affect fair operations much as it mostly runs along a hillside that is unused by fair activities.

But that’s not how fair organizers see it.

“They want to take the tail-end corner of the property,” said Dan Ollis, fair board chairman. This would cut off a small camping area used by 4-H kids during the fair, which raises safety concerns even though Langley has promised to close the road during the days of the fair. Ollis and others note that the fair is used year-round, and a road poses a safety hazard.

“It’s a thoroughfare,” said Sandey Brandon, fair administrator, describing the proposal. The road’s right-of-way is 60 feet, although Blackford says it wouldn’t necessarily require all that space.

Barbara Pearson, the Oak Harbor representative on the fair board, also sees a safety concern. “You’d have camping kids crossing the road in the middle of the night,” she said. “It’s a recipe for disaster.”

A dirt road presently occupies that area of the fairgrounds, and it exits onto Langley Road. Horse trailers use the dirt road and it’s the only way for the big carnival rigs to enter the fairgrounds. Ollis and Gabelein worry that the new paved roadway would restrict the amount of parking and turnaround area for large vehicles, and generally interfere with the staging of fair events.

The city and fair have been negotiating and arguing over such issues for the past 18 months. Ollis recently spent five hours being deposed by the city’s attorney in the condemnation lawsuit. Meanwhile, the city submitted a more complete set of road plans to the fair board last month, but those too fell short of satisfying the board.

“Our attorney handed them back to the city saying they’re not acceptable,” Ollis said. The plans leave out details the fair board is demanding, such as fencing, ditching, runoff plans, and Langley Road intersection assurances.

Shelton said Thursday he just got his hands on a copy of those plans. He hopes they will form the basis for further negotiations. Once the county engineering staff gives its input, he’ll try to get the city and fair to negotiate. “I still hope this thing doesn’t go to court,” he said.

Shelton acknowledged that the plan doesn’t include some things even he would like to see, but at least it’s a start.

But not even a perfect set of road plans would satisfy the fair board, which would prefer no road at all. Board members say it’s unnecessary to serve the new development and there are other routes available through private property.

“The fair board right now is unanimous on no road,” Ollis said Wednesday, “based on the information we have now.”

The city’s Blackford said four possible routes were studied. “Three required taking private property and had other negative elements; the best route was the route we chose to pursue,” he said.

Blackford hopes to sit down with the fair board and work on any outstanding issues. From his point of view, “We’ve addressed every one as they were presented, the design will take all those things into consideration.” So far, the fair board has declined new discussions, he said.

The city sees the development as a way to build a long-desired road. The developer, Erl Bangston of Freeland, will pay for construction costs once the city provides the right-of-way. But Bangston’s project manager, Rick Almberg of Oak Harbor, said the development itself is not contingent upon road approval. The existing access from Al Anderson Road is sufficient. “We’re breaking ground next month,” he said.

The legal battle is a costly one, but exactly how much it’s costing isn’t clear. The fair’s legal bills for its attorney in the case, Elaine Spencer, are being picked up the Fair Association, a non-profit entity separate from the fair board and whose records, arguably, are not public. Gabelein, association secretary, said she has donated to the cause, as did a number of other fair supporters gathered Wednesday at the fair office.

“We believe in what we’re doing so we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” said Brandon, the fair’s paid administrator.

Unless Shelton or someone else can make peace between the two sides, the condemnation issue will be settled in the courtroom.

Ollis, for one, is ready to see that happen.

“I just want the judge to make a decision so we can get our lives back,” he said.