Owner of Olalla Bay Market files $35M claim against Kitsap County after complaints

Gregg Olsen has had enough.

The owner of the Olalla Bay Market and Landing filed a tort claim against Kitsap County on Friday, seeking $35 million.

It’s the latest move in an ongoing conflict between Olsen and the county, which earlier this year demolished the market’s flower garden, told the business it couldn’t have live music and briefly prohibited the market from serving food.

Olsen argues in the 35-page claim that one neighbor — who is a public works employee for the county — is behind false reports against the business about noise, parking and other issues, and that the county was negligent and failed to properly investigate.

The claim alleges the market has “been the target of hundreds of baseless and egregious complaints” made to the county and other government officials, and subsequent enforcement actions.

Kitsap County spokesperson Krista Carlson confirmed Friday that the county had received the complaint. She said the county does not comment on pending litigation.

Filing the claim starts a 60-day clock. If Olsen and the county don’t reach an agreement, he can proceed with a lawsuit.

“He’s had these ongoing false complaints that have been acted on over and over,” attorney Anne Bremner, who is representing Olsen, told The News Tribune on Thursday. “... It’s clearly not helpful for business, and we know the restaurant business right now is pretty tough.”

Olsen is seeking $10 million from Kitsap County for financial losses and other expenses and $25 million in punitive damages.

“These are warranted not only to penalize the County for its wrongful actions but also to deter similar conduct in the future,” the claim says.

He also wants a formally apology.

Allegations of fake complaints and fake personas

Olsen and his family bought the historic market building at 13965 Crescent Valley Road SE in 2021.

There’s been a store on the property since the 1880s, the claim says, and it’s been a community center over the years.

The Olsens opened their business last April after a fire in August 2022 devastated the property and delayed the opening. Residents donated more than $50,000 and helped with the renovation, the claims says.

Meanwhile, Olsen has been fighting with the county about various complaints.

Olsen wrote in the claim that he told the Department of Community Development that he suspected the public works employee and employee’s spouse, who live near the market, “might be behind many, if not all, unfounded allegations.”

His claim says: “Despite providing detailed information and expressing repeated concerns over a three-year time-period, no substantive internal investigation was initiated to explore the validity of my concerns or to scrutinize the actions of a specific County employee and others at the County assisting the employee in his efforts to harm and defame.”

Among other things, the claim alleges the employee and his wife created fake personas to make some of their complaints and that they misrepresented themselves as a neighborhood association to make their concerns seem widespread.

“Without due diligence, the County gave undue credence to spurious allegations, leading to unwarranted regulatory scrutiny and negative public perception of Olalla Bay Market and its owners,” the claim says.

Flower garden demolished

Olsen alleges that the couple falsely complained that a garden the business put in interfered with access to the couple’s driveway.

The $8,000 planter, which the business built in part as a traffic safety measure, was demolished by the county in April, the claim says.

Carlson, the county spokesperson, told The News Tribune via email at the time that the owner and county talked about plans for a rain garden.

“Without obtaining the required right of way permit, a 4-foot-high planter was constructed in open county right of way,” Carlson wrote. “As installed, this 4-foot-high concrete block planter poses both visibility and safety concerns.”

Olsen’s claim says that contradicted initial guidance they got from the county that they didn’t need a permit, and that the county told him not to talk to the media about their disputes.

The claim also alleges that the employee’s spouse falsely complained to the state liquor board in May 2023 that there was a bottle of Everclear and margarita mix behind the counter at the market, in violation of the market’s license to sell beer and wine.

Noise complaints the couple made effectively shut down open-mic nights at the business, the claim alleges, even though “the Market management took careful measures to ensure these indoor gatherings did not disturb the neighborhood, conscientiously ending music by 8 p.m., well before the noise ordinance cutoff time of 10 p.m.”

A letter the county sent the business in March said there’s no way live music can be allowed there because of how the property is zoned.

“This cessation of indoor live music, prompted by erroneous enforcement actions based on unsubstantiated claims, has deprived the local community of a valued cultural and social venue, and has placed unnecessary financial strains on the Market,” the claim says. “This sequence of events raises concerns about the proportionality and fairness of the County’s response to alleged zoning violations, particularly when such actions are based on incorrect or misleading information.”

Food service was briefly prohibited

The county also ordered the business to stop serving food March 1, writing that it wasn’t properly approved as a restaurant.

Minutes after the county issued the notice, a county official allegedly forwarded it to the spouse of the county employee who lives near the market.

Hours later the spouse sent it to the liquor board, the claim alleges, and the market had to stop serving alcohol because they’re not allowed to serve beer and wine if they’re not serving food.

Olsen’s claim says the county later said there was a “miscommunication” and that the market was allowed to serve food on site.

Food service resumed near the end of March, and the liquor board cleared the business to sell alcohol again April 4.

“However, this ‘miscommunication’ had an enormous impact, leading to significant financial losses and the layoffs of four full-time employees,” the claim says. “Public perception has been further skewed to believe Olalla Bay Market remains closed for food service, exacerbating financial strains.”

Parking complaints

There were also complaints from the couple about people parking at the nearby boat launch and walking to the market, the claim says.

The market reached a parking agreement with the Olalla Bible Church.

Then March 25, the pastor got a phone call from someone who said his name was “Steve Hansen” and who “attempted to intimidate the pastor suggesting a parking arrangement with the Market would threaten their nonprofit status and hold them liable for lawsuits,” the claim alleges.

The phone number was allegedly the same one “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 says.

The parking agreement was never made public, but it was sent to the county a few days before the call.

“This situation exemplifies the egregious and unfounded interference Olalla Bay Market has endured, necessitating legal redress for the continued challenges and damages inflicted upon it by Kitsap County’s egregious lack of supervision of its employees, the breach of its public records process, and the malicious actions of an employee using his position and access to County resources for personal gain,” the claim says.

The employee and his spouse have allegedly made 92 911 calls, and a third of those “were maliciously and falsely directed against Olalla Bay Market,” the complaint alleges. “This demonstrates that the County employee and his spouse weaponized County resources for personal gain, aiming to destroy and damage our business and harm our reputation, and hold us to public ridicule.”

Meanwhile, the market is still waiting for a certificate of occupancy from the county.

“Repeated requests for occupancy approval have been met with silence or refusal from the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office, which continues to cite unfounded and misleading information supplied by the County employee and his spouse as justification for their inaction,” the claim alleges.

Olsen also has a land-use attorney, said Bremner, the lawyer representing him in the tort claim.

“It’s really troubling what they’ve been through, and they want it to stop, obviously,” Bremner said. “I mean, life is too short to go through things like this.”

News Tribune archives contributed to this report.