It was a quiet news year in the Maritime City. But as the weak economy dragged on and businesses disappeared, new ones sprang up for various reasons. Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula became a land of opening and closing doors.

While Harry Dearth quietly packed up his books downtown, a big hitter in the literary industry, Borders Books and Music, left its glittering Uptown Gig Harbor structure empty as the corporation filed for bankruptcy — a casualty of the surging online business industry. 

A new tenant has yet to be announced, but in the meantime, the empty structure housed Halloween City in October and served as headquarters for this year’s Thanksgiving Basket Brigade.

QFC shut its grocery store on Judson Street, explaining that it couldn’t support two stores in such close proximity. It still operates the location on Point Fosdick Drive NW.

The city lost another longtime favorite, Peninsula Gardens, to retirement, and Stroh’s Feed and Supply on Kimball Drive was resurrected as a 35,000-square-foot Winco.

Two grocery stores, Safeway on Point Fosdick Drive NW, and the Food Market at Key Center, built new stores from the ground up, and both have plans to demolish the old buildings next door for additional retail space.

The new 63,700-square-foot Safeway store not only brought a state-of-the-art grocery facility to Gig Harbor, but 50 additional jobs as well. Likewise, the new Food Market created jobs for about 10 to 15 new employees.

GOOD TO GO! NOT SO GOOD TO GO

Ask not for whom the bridge tolls. The bridge tolls for thee — or maybe it doesn’t.

The February conversion to a new tolling contractor for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge wasn’t exactly smooth, and many drivers found out the hard way.

Computer glitches arose, causing some people with electronic Good to Go! accounts to be improperly fined. The state stopped issuing fines as a result, and it created a backlog of 50,000 potential tickets.

The state Department of Transportation and its Texas-based contractor, Electronic Transaction Consultants Corp., eventually worked out the kinks with some help from customers in the form of updated license plate numbers, credit cards and account balances. With the updated information, regular tolls were charged to accounts, and fines were dropped using automatic cross-checking.

The state had issued about 26,000 notices following the conversion, but those were either converted to tolls or dismissed following complaints. Many of the remaining backlog of potential infractions were thrown out because some of them couldn’t be mailed out within the required 60 days.

The delay ended up costing the state more than $200,000 in lost revenue. In addition, ETTC gave up nearly $2 million it was owed under contract due to other delays and problems.

Earlier this month, the state launched photo tolling that gives drivers a third option to pay a bridge toll — to receive a bill in the mail.

Previously, there were two options for drivers to pay the toll on the Narrows Bridge: To stop at the toll booth or use a Good To Go! pass. Drivers who crossed the bridge without using either option received an infraction notice.

— Brett Davis


ROOT ROT, BUDGET CUTS THREATEN STATE PARKS

If the threat of budget cuts wasn’t enough to shake up the state parks system, arbor crews discovered an infestation of laminated root rot among the majority of trees at Kopachuck State Park near Gig Harbor last spring.

The fungus attacks the roots of many conifers, especially Douglas firs, causing trees to become unstable at their base.

In response to potential danger, the campground was closed indefinitely, depriving it of revenue during the busy summer season.

The state parks department hosted several public meetings, including walk-throughs at the campground, to explain the problem. Officials collected public comments as they decided how to remove many trees within the campground.

The park’s closure came as a blow to advocacy groups like Preserve Our Parks, which rallied to help save the park when state budget cuts loomed.

State Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, said the situation at Kopachuck has been a statewide example of how a community can organize to work to manage its resources.

“This park is very local,” he said. “My first concern has been that the parks department people make sure that the community understands what the disease problem is, what the choices are, and agree with the decision.”

Seaquist said his guideline was to make sure the long-term future of the park was kept in mind and that dealing with the disease problem is done in a way that assured a maximum benefit.

However, he said the root rot problem is minor compared to the larger threat of state budget cuts that could close many of the state’s parks.

— Susan Schell

GH MARITIME PIER GIVEN THE GREEN LIGHT

Longtime plans for a maritime pier in Gig Harbor took another step toward becoming a reality this year.

As part of the overall project — and just in time for the holidays — the city completed a 32-stall parking lot and plans to begin pier construction next spring, thanks to a $378,300 allocation from the state capital budget’s community projects fund.

Plans call for a 156-foot by 18-foot pier, supported by pilings, with a 12- by 40-foot float at the end to accommodate smaller vessels and provide an area for loading and unloading.

With a pledge of $50,000 from the Gig Harbor Commercial Fisherman’s Club, current estimates show the entire project is covered. The city paid $1.1 million for land acquisition and development of the parking facility and received $60,000 from the Threshold Group and the Tides Tavern to construct a bathroom on the site.

City officials believe the pier will have an economic impact on the city, since it will allow boaters a destination when they arrive from out of town. It also could serve as a landing place for water taxis to Pierce County-owned Chambers Bay when it hosts the 2015 U.S. Open.

It will be the only pier in the harbor open to commercial use.

The city currently has all the permits required to construct the parking lot, but there are several state and federal permits they are still working to obtain. Earlier this month, City Administrator Rob Karlinsey said the city was “inches away” from receiving permits from “the feds” to construct the pier.

— Brett Davis

WORLD TRADE CENTER ARTIFACT STIRS EMOTIONS

It wasn’t so much that four firefighters from Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One drove across the United States to retrieve a reminder of one of the country’s biggest tragedies.

Nor was it that they were treated like royalty by New York firefighters as they picked up a rusted section of I beam that once supported one of the buildings at the World Trade Center.

It wasn’t so much that they transported the beam on a trailer towed by the team’s training truck, or that they attended spur-of-the moment memorials in different states as word of their mission spread nationwide.

It was the reception the Gig Harbor firefighters received when they returned home and showed that, 10 years later, the event still had a big impact on a small town on the other side of the country.

Before they parked at the Fire District 5 headquarters on Bujacich Road, the crew drove around town.

“When we went down Soundview (Drive), there were people waving flags and cheering for us,” Gig Harbor firefighter Rob McCoy said. “I was not prepared for that. The most striking part of the trip, to me, is that we traveled 6,298 miles, and it felt like everybody we met, we were connected with.”

The crew members followed a motorcycle escort provided by the Patriot Guard Riders. When they pulled into station headquarters, they were met by a crowd of people — firefighters in uniform, an honor guard and the Pierce County Pipes and Drums.

In a somber ceremony, the honor guard removed the American flag that was draped over the artifact like a casket and presented it to Fire Chief John Burgess.

Kent Cooper, one of the team members, gave an emotional speech while he choked back tears.

An ocean away, firefighter Ryan Kress watched the ceremony on his computer at a military camp in the southern Philippines. Kress was the one who orchestrated obtaining the WTC piece for Gig Harbor, but he was deployed overseas with the Army National Guard and was unable to make the trip.

“I knew they were going to have some little ceremony, but what I saw totally blew me away,” he said. “I can’t really put words to it. The impact it still has on people.”

The artifact is on display at the Harbor History Museum. Eventually, it will become the centerpiece for a memorial to honor firefighters at one of the local fire stations.

— Susan Schell