Kitsap County’s commissioners have worked for nearly a year, to convince Kum Kang Lee, a 70-year-old Korean-American man, to sell his South Kitsap land.

They’d like to build a roundabout there, connecting J.M. Dickenson and Lake Flora Road.

But Lee refuses to sell, fearing he’ll loose his government assistance if does.

Lee’s government benefits pay for his phone, energy, food and about $200 per month for prescription medicine.

The Kitsap commissioners don’t yet know if Lee will actually lose those benefits if he sells his land, but they’ve instructed their staff to look into it.

They’re prepared to take Lee to court if he refuses to sell the property and connected Lee with John Andrews, a pro-bono attorney based in Bremerton, so that he’d have legal representation.

The commissioners said they’d rather resolve the issue with Lee outside the legal system. But if that fails, then they plan to go through the legal process quickly.

Speed will be important for several reasons, said Tina Nelson, the project’s senior manager.

It matters because $383,000 of the $680,000 needed to finance the project has been budgeted to come from the federal government, but that money will only be available if the land is in the county’s possession by Sept. 30.

It would be even better for the county to get the money before summer, said Nelson, because waiting until the end of summer could mean that the project gets put on hold until next year.

“Right now, bids are very reasonable,” said Nelson. “Are the bids going to be as reasonable next year? We don’t know.”

Also, waiting to complete the project amounts to “leaving an unsafe intersection for a longer period of time,” she said.

There were 16 accidents at that intersection between 2003 and 2007, 10 times higher than the county’s average, according to a traffic study by the county.

Moving the roundabout slightly to the side of the intersection, onto Lee’s property, makes the intersection safer by forcing drivers to slow down, said Nelson.

“There are several reasons that we chose the location for the roundabout,” said Nelson, although purchasing property isn’t ideal.

“The roundabout can’t be right exactly in the middle of the existing intersection,” she said, and “there’s not enough right-of-way to complete the project” without purchasing.

There’s a wetland on one of the nearby properties that otherwise would have worked, and doing it any other way would require purchase from several different property owners.

Purchasing the property from Lee is the last major lingering obstacle before the county can move forward with the project, she said. “The project’s design has been completed.”

Language barriers have provided a major obstacle in the county’s communication with Lee, said Deputy Prosecutor Eileen McKair.

“This should have been very simple, but because of the language difficulties, it’s become a lot more involved,” she said.

Lee uses a Korean language interpreter to communicate with the county, although he has lived in the United States for 31 years, has a valid Washington State Driver’s License, Social Security card and passport.