A decision from Judge Katie Loring Jan. 6 came down in favor of the County, regarding water usage at the fairgrounds.

“The Court concludes that the Town exceeded its authority both because its decision involved an error of law and because it is unsupported by substantial evidence,” Loring writes in the beginning of her decision.

Disagreements over water usage at the County Fairgrounds have been ongoing for decades. From the fair’s early start, 100 years ago, water was supplied largely for livestock during fair days. The buildings, over that duration, have also housed a resident caretaker, a Boy Scout cabin, daycare and more. The Fairgrounds have grown, and with the recent remodel, particularly that of the Mary Boe Building, an over decadeslong debate about how much and for what the Fair may use water resurfaced, and the Town issued the County a notice of water shutoff on Jan. 9 citing “lack of approved water use.”

The County appealed the violation to the Town Council in May, and when the Council upheld the violation in Resolution 2850, the County filed a suit in Superior Court. That hearing took place Oct. 22. Judge Loring took over two months to issue her decision.

In her analysis of the matter, Judge Loring wrote, ‘The Town Council Resolution 2850 did not expressly apply or rely on Town of Friday Harbor Municipal Code or articulate a specific legal basis for its decision. The Town Administrator’s Feb. 9, 2024 letter decision, which Resolution 2850 ‘affirmed in its entirety,’ relied simply upon ‘FHMC Chapter 13.12.’ The Notice of Violation that the Town Administrator upheld expressly relied on FHMC 13.12.010B.”

She also added that there was no supporting evidence for the assertion that water use at the grounds was limited to the four days of the County Fair.

“None of the documents referenced provides substantial evidence for the finding. The only documents that support the alleged implied agreement limiting water use to the County fair one month per year (and for fire suppression) are recent communications made on behalf of the Town to support the position that they have taken in the underlying Notice of Violation and affirming decisions.”

Judge Loring concluded by writing:

“I conclude that there is not sufficient evidence to persuade a rational, fair-minded person of the Town Council’s Findings Nos. 2-4, and therefore substantial evidence does not support the Town’s decision.

For the reasons stated above, I conclude that the underlying decision, Town Council Resolution 2850 is based on an error of law and is unsupported by substantial evidence, and therefore is reversed.”

The Town has the option to appeal.