The Port of South Whidbey must guarantee that an annual agricultural fair and 4-H programs can continue at the fairgrounds without placing “an insurmountable financial burden” on 4-H or the Island County Fair Association, the county commissioners wrote in a letter introduced at a regular meeting last week.

In exchange for that and other guarantees, the Board said it will let the Port own the fairgrounds, assuming an upcoming referendum supports that ownership transfer.

The Board unanimously approved the letter to the Port Commissioners, which said the Port must also guarantee that it will:

Preserve the historic nature of the fairgrounds’ Pole Building;

Continue to provide a satisfactory location for any historic structures owned by the South Whidbey Historical Society and located on the fairgrounds;

Require that the fairgrounds not be conveyed to anyone for private ownership except upon approval of a majority of residents within the boundaries of the South Whidbey School District; and

Form an advisory committee to manage the property, with seats for the county and for the city of Langley.

In exchange for receiving those guarantees, the Board wrote, it will support the results of a vote — proposed for August — asking residents within the South Whidbey School District two questions: whether the fairgrounds’ ownership should be transferred from the county to the Port, and whether they will let the Port raise its levy limit by 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, equating to about $200,000 per year, to support the fairgrounds.

The school district boundaries are identical to those of the Port District.

The county has owned the 12.8-acre fairgrounds for 54 years but has conceded it is not the ideal caretaker.

The Port has managed the fairgrounds under a lease since April 1, 2015. The Board’s letter thanked the Port for managing the fairgrounds “without additional cost” and without a lease in April and May this year.

“Hopefully the Port will find the above conditions acceptable and move forward with the proposed lease amendment as they have indicated they would,” the letter concludes.

Angie Mozer, the Port’s executive director, at the meeting’s outset thanked the Board for the letter but said she could not commit to the guarantees because she did not represent the Port commissioners.

Mozer later said they have not fully discussed the guarantee requests.