Business Community

Olalla Bay Market owners allege harassment, file tort claim against Kitsap County

Owners of the Olalla Bay Market and Landing, a popular grocery store and meeting space along Colvos Passage, submitted a tort claim against Kitsap County last week, requesting a combined $35 million in damages. 

Owner Gregg Olsen says he and his family have been the target of hundreds of baseless and frivolous complaints from a couple who live near his business. In a 35-page claim, he accuses the county of being negligent to the credibility of those complaints while using them to interfere with his business. 

“This declaration arises from the egregious conduct of Kitsap County and certain county employees who have engaged in a sustained campaign of harassment, defamation, fraud, and intentional infliction of emotional distress against my family and our business,” Olsen wrote in the tort claim submitted Aug. 2. He has asked for $10 million for financial losses; $25 million in punitive damages; and a formal apology from the county.

What’s a tort claim?

Tort claims are submitted by individuals who believe they have been harmed by a government employee. It is distinct from — but generally a precursor to — a lawsuit. The county has 60 days to settle the claim before the Olsens can file a suit.

Olsen’s lawyer provided a copy of the claim to Gig Harbor Now. A county spokesperson confirmed they had received the claim but declined to comment further, citing pending litigation.

The potential for litigation is the latest development in a series of back-and-forth disputes between the market and county. Olsen alleges the disputes stem mostly from a single county employee and his wife who live near his business.

Olalla Bay Market and Landing owner Gregg Olsen chats with owners in April 2023. Photo by Charlee Glock-Jackson

Olsen — a true crime author — purchased the market property in February 2021 with his wife, Claudia, and daughter, Marta Drevniak. The space includes an old post office, a historic market formerly known as Al’s of Olalla and 1,000 feet of waterfront.

The family redeveloped the old post office into a meeting space and small museum of Olalla artifacts, dubbed The Landing, that opened in 2022. The Olalla Bay Market, a grocery and restaurant, opened in April 2023.

Owners allege county employee filed complaints with county

Olsen alleges in the complaint that an employee of the Kitsap County Public Works Department and his wife, who live near the market, made hundreds of false complaints over the last three years through various county channels. He alleges the employee abused his position at the county and received preferential treatment due to his connections.

Olsen said on several occasions he notified the county that the couple was likely the source of the multiple, if not all, of the complaints. But he alleges they failed to address or investigate them. He also alleges the couple made fake online personas to file additional complaints and harassed market employees.

“The County’s failure to investigate fraudulent statements, 911 calls, emails, false organizations, breach of County ethics and misuse of computing and other resources, did more than simply encourage and embolden the continuing harassment,” Olsen wrote in the claim, “It also provided both content and cover for the County employee, his spouse and county leadership.”

Olalla Bay Market

The claim does not name the employee and his wife. They did not immediately return a request for comment.

Olsen said he met with County Commissioner Charlotte Garrido, who represents South Kitsap and lives in Olalla, in 2021 to tell her about the harassment. He alleges Garrido dismissed their concerns and failed to intervene. He claims Garrido had an undisclosed personal relationship with the county employee and his wife.

Garrido did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Food, alcohol and live events disrupted

Things reached an apex for the market in the spring of 2024.

It began when the county ruled a planter constructed at the intersection of Banner and Crescent Valley roads violated design standards for clear zones. They ordered its demolition.

Olsen said the county initially allowed its construction, valued at $8,000, without a permit. Then it re-measured and analyzed the garden following a neighbor complaint.

They said it blocked the right-of-way and access to a nearby road. County officials said the neighbor’s lawyer found a legal precedent in Spokane that made the removal necessary.

In March, the county sent a notice to the market to immediately cease events, including live music. The county asserted that the property’s zoning did not allow for that use, even through a conditional permit.  

Kitsap County ruled this planter in front of Olalla Bay Market violated design standards. The county ordered the planter removed. Photo courtesy of Olalla Bay Market.

In the same letter, the county requested the market stop acting as a restaurant until it received occupancy approval. The market is zoned rural commercial use, which allows restaurants. But the market did not have occupancy approval as a restaurant at the time, according to the letter.

Olsen alleges a county employee sent that notice directly to the wife of the public works employee. She then forwarded that letter to the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Control Board, he said, leading to a temporary ban on alcohol sales.

Parking agreement and suspicious phone call

In a prior statement, the county said it issued the March notice after learning of unpermitted activities at the market.

“When we receive complaints, we investigate,” county spokeswoman Krista Carlson previously told Gig Harbor Now. “With limited resources, we do not monitor businesses to assure they stay within the bounds of their permits.”

The notice ordered the market to strike a parking agreement or significantly reduce the building’s occupancy to gain full occupancy approval for its restaurant. The market had received complaints for its guests parking at a nearby boat launch.

The first-day crowd at Olalla Bay Market in April 2023. Photo by Charlee Glock-Jackson

The market reached an agreement with Olalla Bible Church for parking, Olsen wrote. Shortly after the deal was confirmed, the church’s pastor received a threatening phone call. The parking agreement with the church had not been disclosed publicly at the time of the alleged harassment, Olsen said.

“Upon investigation, it was learned the phone number originating this call came from the same number the County employee involved in the repeated and spurious complaints against the market has used in official correspondence in addition to false 911 complaints,” the claim said.

Employees laid off

Olsen alleges the suspension of food and alcohol service, as well as other delays, led to significant financial impacts on the market. The market laid off four full-time employees.

Anne Bremner, Olsen’s attorney, said the business owners filed the claim after years of harassment from the couple and an insufficient response. The county has some responsibility to ascertain if a complaint is credible, she said, repeating an allegation in the claim that the couple made over 92 calls to 911, including more than a third targeting the market.

“(Olsen) had enough false claims not being investigated,” she said. “It was an endless array of complaints being taken at face value.”

The Olalla Bay Landing, a meeting space and community room on the market property, when it opened in 2022.