Olalla Market saga continues: Garden will be demolished, paved following complaint
The beer and wine can stay. The flower garden has to go.
That was the message the owners of the Olalla Bay Market & Landing received from Kitsap County officials and the state Liquor and Cannabis Control Board early this month, according to posts on the business’s Facebook page.
The developments are the latest back-and-forth between the owners of the market at 13965 Crescent Valley Road SE and government officials.
“We are happy to report that we continue to work with Kitsap County toward a positive outcome for Olalla Bay Market and our devoted customers,” owner Gregg Olsen told The Gateway via email Friday. “The garden is a separate issue and will be resolved on Monday when county crews remove and repave the space it occupied on the corner of Banner Road Southeast and Crescent Valley Road Southeast.”
Asked about the garden, county spokesperson Krista Carlson told the Gateway via email Friday that the owner and the county discussed 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. Consequently, the Road Division of the Kitsap County Public Works Department will remove the unpermitted structure and restore the right of way to County standards next week.”
Gregg and Claudia Olsen bought the historic market building in 2021 and opened their business last April, after a fire in August 2022 devastated the market and pushed back its opening, the Gateway previously reported.
Then the new business got a letter early last month from Kitsap County that directed the market to stop serving food on site and to stop hosting live music, including open mic events.
The market started serving food again March 28 while its permit to operate as a restaurant was in the works. As for the music, the county has said there’s no way to allow it now or in the future, because of how the property is zoned.
Then the letter from the county “triggered a response from the state Liquor and Cannabis Control Board,” the market posted on Facebook April 3. “We were informed yesterday afternoon that OBM cannot serve or sell any alcohol (including from our coolers) until such time as the county makes its ruling on the use of our property.”
The market later updated the post to say beer and wine sales were back on, including for on-site consumption.
“The Liquor Control Board discussed the issue with Kitsap County,” the post said, “and affirmed our ability to fully serve our Olalla customers under our liquor license.”
Julie Graham, a spokesperson for the liquor board, confirmed that Friday.
She told the Gateway the agency got a complaint from a nearby resident that the market wasn’t meeting the requirements of its liquor license, which prompted the investigation.
The agency cleared the market to resume alcohol sales April 4.
“From our perspective, they are allowed to resume alcohol sales, because it looks as though they have received some notification from the county that they are allowed to resume their restaurant services,” Graham said. “So as long as they’re operating as a restaurant, they are complying with their liquor license.”
‘Obviously, we are disappointed’
Then there’s the garden, which county crews plan to remove Monday.
“Obviously, we are disappointed that this is happening as the garden was created as a safety measure on a corner at which traffic speeds are sometimes a concern,” the market posted on Facebook April 4.
They described the right-of-way issue.
“Following a neighbor’s complaint, the county re-measured and analyzed the garden’s location too many times to list here,” the post said.
The market was repeatedly assured that the garden was in the clear, the post said, until recently.
“… the neighbor’s lawyer found a legal precedent in Spokane that now makes this removal necessary,” the post said. “Since the county was unaware of the Spokane legal precedent the removal and repaving will be done at taxpayer’s expense.”
The business framed the garden’s demise as a done deal.
“If the county prosecutor’s office says it must be torn down, that’s the way things go,” the post said. “Most importantly, remember that the workers dismantling the garden are members of our community just doing their jobs. Let them do their work in peace.”
This story was originally published April 6, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
