Pierce Co. oyster bar has been trying to open for 10 years. What’s the holdup?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Gig Harbor council denied sewer extension, stalling Laguna’s on the Bay opening.
- County removed Purdy from UGA, which means city cannot provide sewer service to site.
- Kingman family continues to seeks solution after 10 years of planning restaurant.
It’s been ten years since the Kingman family decided they wanted to open a seafood restaurant overlooking Henderson Bay.
Their company website teased a summer 2025 opening, but after the city of Gig Harbor denied their request to extend city sewer service to the property, it’s not clear how much longer the family — and customers — will have to wait.
Minterbrook Oyster Company co-owner Kent Kingman is undaunted.
“ ... it kind of caught me by surprise yesterday when the city sent me a letter, but I agree with it,” he said in a phone call Dec. 11. “I think it was the right thing to do.”
The Kingman family brought their proposal for Laguna’s on the Bay, an oyster bar and seafood restaurant at 13810 Purdy Dr. NW before the Gig Harbor Peninsula Advisory Commission in June 2015, The News Tribune reported. At the time, the project also included a fish shop and an espresso bar on the lower level, with leased office space above. Kingman bought the parcel in October 2013, according to Department of Revenue real estate records.
Minterbrook Oyster Company, which the Kingmans acquired in 2012, farms oysters and shellfish in a protected estuary off of the Key Peninsula and ships them across the country and the world, from LA to Hong Kong, the company website says. The company also runs a retail shop at 12002 114th St. Court.
The company has been family-owned for its nearly 90-year history, from its founding by the Secor family in 1932. The Wiksten family operated the business for 54 years before selling to the Kingmans, a family of four: Kent, his wife Donna and their two sons Garrett and Austin, according to the company website.
City denies request for sewer service to proposed restaurant
At the Gig Harbor City Council meeting Dec. 8, council members reviewed a request to expand city sewer service to the future restaurant site. Minterbrook by the Sea, LLC requested nine additional ERUs, which stands for “equivalent residential units” and roughly translate to the amount of sewer service needed for a single residence, on average, Gig Harbor Public Works Director Jeff Langhelm explained to The News Tribune. Per the city’s wastewater comprehensive plan, one ERU is quantified as 150 gallons of wastewater a day, he said.
Currently, the site has access to one ERU of sewer service from the city, which was enough for the office building, Roland & Roland, Inc., that formerly occupied the property, he told The News Tribune.
City public works staff recommended in an agenda bill that the council deny the request because the property is outside the city’s Urban Growth Area, or UGA, which state law defines as areas where “urban growth shall be encouraged and outside of which growth can occur only if it is not urban in nature.” UGAs may include areas that a city may annex in the future to accommodate future population growth.
Staff also asserted that Minterbrook by the Sea, LLC’s request does not meet the criteria for exceptions to this rule. Following state law, the Gig Harbor Municipal Code limits the city’s ability to provide water and sewer services outside of the urban growth area only “in those limited circumstances shown to be necessary to protect basic public health and safety and the environment, and when such services are financially supportable at rural densities and do not permit urban development.”
“The apparent benefit of the extension request is to facilitate development which would otherwise not be allowed per County code, which does not qualify as protection of basic public health and safety,” the agenda bill said.
An example of such a public health and safety or environmental risk is if an existing on-site septic system failed, which is the most common type, Langhelm said. The city would ultimately make that determination, though they might take input from other agencies like the local health department, he explained.
The property as is can’t accommodate an on-site septic system due to county restrictions near the shoreline and an existing drinking water well, according to the agenda bill.
The city council unanimously voted to reject the business’s request, meeting records show.
The situation isn’t a question of sewer capacity. The city ensured that it would have enough sewer capacity to serve all of Purdy when that area was still part of the city’s Urban Growth Area. If the area returned to the UGA, the city would be prepared, he said.
A neighboring restaurant, Massimo Italian Bar & Grill, operates with city sewer service. That’s because the city approved those connections when the area was still part of the city’s Urban Growth Area, said Langhelm. Like other buildings in the Purdy area hooked up to city sewer systems, including Peninsula High School and Purdy Elementary School, there’s no issue as long as those properties aren’t requesting more than they have currently, he said.
Company has spent years planning restaurant
Over the last ten years, Minterbrook Oyster Company has worked to obtain the permits necessary to open the restaurant.
“It’s so complicated,” Kingman said. “I mean, getting all the permits together, it’s taken ten years. Now that we have it all together, the only thing left is this sewer thing, which was all done until (the area) switched to RAC.”
RAC, or Rural Activity Center, is a county zone classification that describes parts of a rural area where businesses are concentrated and serve the needs of the local community with goods, services and employment, according to county code. The site of Laguna’s on the Bay is zoned for Rural Activity Center, but was part of the city’s urban growth area as recently as last year, when the Pierce County Council approved the removal of the Purdy area from the Gig Harbor UGA during their Comprehensive Plan drafting process.
Pierce County issued a permit for commercial construction in September, allowing the Kingmans to build a two-story mixed-use building for use as a restaurant, retail and office space. The county has temporarily suspended that permit, spokesperson Michelle Kircher wrote in an email Dec. 12.
“The suspension will remain in place until the applicant provides the required documentation confirming a lawful means of sewage disposal for the structure,” Kircher wrote. “Once this information is received and verified, the permit will return to active issued status and inspections may be scheduled.”
Owners hold onto vision for oyster bar
Kingman said the beauty of the property struck his family early on.
“ ... my kids, they went to Peninsula High School, they both got married and they’re settling into the community here,” he said. “So we just thought, that would be an amazing piece of property to put a restaurant there and a little fish shop, just a little retail place.”
Kingman continued to express confidence in their ability to find a solution to the sewer issue. He told The News Tribune Dec. 11 that he was planning to meet with the city of Gig Harbor and Pierce County Council member Robyn Denson within the next week to figure out “what’s the best thing for the city, what’s the best thing for the county, what’s the best thing for the project.”
So far, they’ve torn down the existing building on the lot and started site development work, he said. The current plan is to construct a building that’s about 10,000 square feet.
The business has also partnered with local utilities and agencies to upgrade infrastructure in the Purdy area, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. The company and Washington Water spent over $600,000 combined to upgrade the public well system on the property at the state’s request, and Peninsula Light Company is also investing a significant amount to put the power lines underground because of the danger of allowing power lines to run over buildings, Kingman said.
Asked if he thinks this latest issue could put a stop to the project, Kingman said, “No, absolutely not.”
“I mean, it would be community suicide,” he said. “ ... the community is so supportive of this project, it’s unbelievable.”
As for the company itself, the restaurant would allow them to “vertically integrate,” he said. They’d be following the model of businesses like Taylor Shellfish Farms, which also farms shellfish in the waters off of the Key Peninsula and has opened several oyster bars mostly in Seattle to bring their product directly to consumers.
If needed, the company could also fall back on making the building their executive company headquarters, since that wouldn’t require more sewer service than the site already has, he said.
This story was originally published December 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM.
