Waterfront oyster bar in Pierce County moves forward after over a decade
Editor's Note: This article has been updated with additional information about the history between the city and the property owner, and about the permits for the project going forward.
Gig Harbor-area residents may be getting an oyster bar in Purdy after all.
Minterbrook Oyster Company is on track to obtain expanded city sewer service to their future seafood restaurant at 13810 Purdy Dr. NW, under a code amendment passed by the Gig Harbor City Council June 22. The decision resolves a dispute that threatened to terminate progress on the long-anticipated restaurant, which the oyster company has been planning for over a decade.
Minterbrook Oyster Company co-owner Kent Kingman called the process of working with the city and Pierce County “phenomenal” in a phone call Monday.
“And it’s a great example of working together to get something accomplished and being patient,” said Kingman. “We all had to be patient, because it was so new, and we just didn’t know what to do.”
While crews are completing site work now, Kingman said he imagines construction on the building could start sometime in the winter. The mixed-use project will also include a seafood retail shop and office space, he told The News Tribune.
“I would think that the building’s probably going to take a year after that,” he said. “So I’m thinking, you know, we’re a year and a half away (to opening).”
The News Tribune reported that the Kingman family acquired Minterbrook Oyster Company in 2012 and brought their proposal for the restaurant, called Laguna’s on the Bay, before the Gig Harbor Peninsula Advisory Commission in June 2015. The company farms oysters and shellfish in a protected estuary off of the Key Peninsula and ships them nationally and internationally, and runs a retail shop at 12002 114th St. Court, per their website.
The family’s plans were stymied by changes in land use and zoning. Because the county had removed Purdy from Gig Harbor’s Urban Growth Area (UGA) in 2024, the city rejected the property owner’s request last year for expanded city sewer service to the site, per the restrictions in the Gig Harbor Municipal Code, The News Tribune reported. The shellfish company had asked for nine additional ERUs, or units of sewer service (“equivalent residential units,” roughly the amount of sewer service needed for a single residence), to support the proposed restaurant, on top of the existing ERU that currently serves the property.
Last December, the company sued the city of Gig Harbor in Pierce County Superior Court, asking the court to order the city to provide the expanded sewer service. Kingman previously told The News Tribune that the lawsuit was his only way to appeal the city’s decision. In a phone call Wednesday, he said the lawsuit will be dropped.
On June 22, the Gig Harbor City Council unanimously voted to approve an amendment to the municipal code that would allow the city to expand sewer service to properties outside of the city’s UGA but within what are known as “limited areas of more intense rural development,” or LAMIRDs. The oyster bar in Purdy is within a LAMIRD, which was created by the county, Gig Harbor Public Works Director Jeff Langhelm confirmed in a phone call Wednesday.
To get the expanded sewer service, the property owner will need to follow the process of requesting a utility extension agreement, Langhelm explained. He said he believes the property owner submitted a request to a city staff member this week.
“My guess is either they submitted already or they’re just about ready to submit for that request,” Langhelm said. He estimated that the request will come before the city council in July or August. Kingman confirmed in a call Wednesday that they are working on applying for the utility extension agreement.
The amendment also includes a correction to the city’s code, allowing the city to provide water service to properties outside city limits and the UGA as long as it remains in their designated water service area. Langhelm said this correction is unrelated to the oyster bar’s request.
Pierce County suspended the commercial building permit for the restaurant while the owner worked through the sewer situation, The News Tribune reported. County spokesperson Christina Rohila told The News Tribune in an email Wednesday that the permit has since expired, but the county can reactivate it once they receive documentation from the applicant showing they’ve resolved the issue. As long as the permit is within five years of its original issuance, the plans and scope of work haven’t changed and the project doesn’t fall under vested land use or flood zone regulations that have changed, a property owner or agent can apply to reactivate an expired permit, Rohila wrote.
The property owner has an approved commercial site development permit, which allows them to do “land-disturbing work like removing vegetation and completing grading or clearing,” Rohila wrote. “You may see this type of work happening on the site.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 11:23 AM.
