SOUTH KITSAP – The owners of the Olalla Bay Market and Landing, a popular grocery store and gathering spot along Colvos Passage, filed a damages lawsuit against Kitsap County last week, seeking a total of $35 million in damages.
Owner Gregg Olsen says he and his family have been the target of hundreds of unfounded and frivolous complaints from a couple who live near his business. In a 35-page lawsuit, he accuses the county of ignoring the credibility of those complaints and instead using them to hinder his business.
“This statement arises from the egregious conduct of Kitsap County and certain county employees who have conducted a sustained campaign of harassment, defamation, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress against my family and our company,” Olsen wrote in the damages lawsuit filed Aug. 2. He is seeking $10 million in financial losses, $25 million in punitive damages and a formal apology from the county.
Compensation claims are filed by people who believe they have been harmed by a government employee. They are different from, but are usually a precursor to, a lawsuit. The county has 60 days to settle the claim before a lawsuit can be filed.
Olsen’s attorney provided a copy of the complaint to the Kitsap Sun. A county spokesman confirmed receipt of the complaint but declined to comment further, citing pending litigation.
The potential for litigation is the latest development in a series of disputes between the market and the county. Olsen claims the disputes mostly involve a single county employee and his wife, who live near his business.
Olsen – an author of true crime novels – purchased the market property in February 2021 with his wife Claudia and daughter Marta Drevniak. The site includes an old post office, a historic market formerly known as Al’s of Olalla, and 300 metres of waterfront.
The family converted the old post office into a meeting room and a small museum of Olalla artifacts called The Landing, which opened in 2022. The Olalla Bay Market, a grocery store and restaurant, opened in April 2023.
Olsen alleges in the complaint that a Kitsap County Public Works Department employee and his wife, who live near the market, have filed hundreds of false complaints through various county channels over the past three years. He claims the employee abused his position with the county and received preferential treatment because of his connections.
Olsen said he informed the county multiple times that the couple was likely the source of several, if not all, of the complaints, but he claims they did not process or investigate them. He also claims the couple created false online identities to file additional complaints and harassed market employees.
“The county’s failure to investigate fraudulent statements, 911 calls, emails, false organizations, violations of county ethics, and misuse of computers and other resources not only encouraged and abetted the ongoing harassment,” Olsen wrote in the lawsuit. “It also gave substance and cover to the county employee, his wife, and county leadership.”
The employee and his wife are not named in the lawsuit. They did not immediately respond to a request from the Kitsap Sun for comment on the allegations.
Olsen said he met with County Commissioner Charlotte Garrido, who represents South Kitsap and lives in Olalla, in 2021 to tell her about the harassment. He claims Garrido dismissed her concerns and did not intervene. He alleges Garrido had an undisclosed personal relationship with the county employee and his wife.
An email to Garrido seeking comment was not answered.
Complaint interrupts food and alcohol sales as well as live events
The market reached its peak in spring 2024.
It started when the county decided that a planter erected at the intersection of Banner and Crescent Valley Road violated open space design standards. It was demolished.
Olsen said the county initially allowed the $8,000 construction without a permit, but then re-measured and analyzed the yard after a neighbor complained.
They said it blocked the right-of-way and access to a nearby road. County officials said the neighbor’s attorney found a precedent in Spokane that made the removal necessary.
In March, the county sent the market a notice to immediately cease events, including live music. The county claimed the property’s zoning did not allow for that use, even with a conditional use permit.
In the same letter, the county requested that the market no longer operate as a restaurant until the use permit is granted. The market is zoned as a rural commercial area, which allows restaurants, but the market did not have a use permit as a restaurant at the time, the letter said.
Olsen claims a county employee sent the notice directly to the public servant’s wife, who then forwarded the letter to the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Control Board, resulting in a temporary ban on alcohol sales.
In an earlier statement, the county said it issued the March notice after learning of unauthorized activities at the market.
“When we receive complaints, we investigate,” district spokeswoman Krista Carlson previously told news organization Gig Harbor Now. “Because we have limited resources, we are unable to monitor businesses to ensure they are operating within the boundaries of their permits.”
The notice required the market to enter into a parking arrangement or significantly reduce the building’s occupancy in order to maintain full occupancy of its restaurant. The market had received complaints about its patrons parking at a nearby boat ramp.
The market reached an agreement with Olalla Bible Church regarding parking fees, Olsen wrote. Shortly after the deal was confirmed, the church’s pastor received a threatening phone call. The parking agreement with the church had not been publicly disclosed at the time of the alleged harassment, Olsen said.
“Upon investigation, it was determined that the telephone number from which this call originated was the same number used by the district employee involved in the repeated and unsubstantiated complaints against the market in his official correspondence as well as in false 911 complaints,” the lawsuit states.
Olsen claims that the suspension of food and alcohol service and other delays have resulted in a significant financial impact on the market. The market has laid off four full-time employees.
Anne Bremner, Olsen’s attorney, said the business owners filed the lawsuit after the couple had been harassed for years and received no adequate response. The county bears some responsibility for determining whether a lawsuit is credible, she said, repeating a claim in the lawsuit that the couple made more than 92 911 calls, more than a third of which targeted the market.
“(Olsen) had enough false claims that were not investigated,” she said. “It was an endless series of complaints that were taken at face value.”
Conor Wilson is a Murrow News Fellow reporting for the Kitsap Sun and Gig Harbor Now, a nonprofit newsroom based in Gig Harbor, as part of a program administered by Washington State University.
