This is part two of a two-part story on changes in the Kingston business community.
Kingston Crossing Harbor Hair Design, 8208 NE Highway 104, Suite 106
Harbor Hair Design, is so new (it opened Aug. 9) that it doesn’t have a permanent sign yet, just a vinyl banner. But inside, the chairs are full. Because Harbor Hair isn’t a new business, it’s just the latest expansion of a thriving business.
“In my first building here, I started out with two chairs,” owner Lynn Hammond said. “We outgrew that and moved to a location where we had three chairs. Then another move to six chairs — that was across from the [Kingston] lumber yard and a liquor store. And now we have eight chairs.”
The new salon incorporates all of the experience she has gained over the years. Take for instance, the lighting.
“A lot of salons have poor lighting,” Hammond said. “The stylists can’t see what they’re doing, and the fluorescents made the customer look awful.” So Hammond put a great deal of time and effort into a new lighting system that provides flattering, even lighting at each station.
Not only is the design different, so is her business model.
“Working as an independent contractor can be hard for young stylists just getting started [as they haven’t yet built up a clientele], said Hammond, who had been an independent contractor in the past. “So my stylists are employees.” If that weren’t enough to keep her busy, Hammond is also an educator for Redken products which takes her on the road frequently.
“I’ve been doing this for 44 years,” she said. “I can’t imagine not doing it.”
Port of Kingston
At the Port of Kingston Marina, the re-roofing of the covered main area is going out to bid and the port is preparing to purchase and install 150 new safety ladders for the docks. That’s the good news from the marina.
The bad news is that transient moorage — guest boaters — is off about 10 percent for the summer (June through September), not only at Kingston, but also at the nearby ports of Poulsbo and Brownsville.
“I’ve talked to the other port managers,” Port of Kingston Executive Director Jim Pivarnik said. “The three of us are going to be getting together soon to discuss what we can do establish a coalition of the small ports in North Kitsap.”
Pivarnik worries that this decline as part of a trend away from the big boats their parents favored by a younger generation. Kayaks and canoes are replacing power boats with all of their expense and upkeep.
While working on this issue, Pivarnik said he and the port commissioners are thinking more broadly.
“We need to think outside the tourism box,” Pivarnik said. “We need to be helping develop businesses that will support family wages. As a port district, under RCW 53.08, we are the government agency responsible for development [in unincorporated Kingston]. Four million cars a year come through Kingston … We have 4,500 visitors. How do we leverage that?”
He acknowledges that not everyone supports the idea of economic development. “There are those in the community that would like us to remain a bedroom community where people live here and work on the east side [of the Sound].”
Pivarnik believes all Kingston residents need to have a voice in the future of the area. To that end, the port has applied for and been awarded a $35,000 grant from the state Community Economic Revitalization Board. The port is matching it with $12,000 and using that money to hire Heartland LLC to conduct a study of ways Kingston and the port might go forward.
“Community outreach meetings are going to be an important part of that study,” Pivarnik said. “We really want the residents to speak up and have a voice in their future.”
That future will need to include the port’s many holdings:
nKingston Marina, with 260 slips and 56 guest slips.
nWashington state ferry landing.
nNorth Beach, the quarter-mile beach north of the ferry dock.
nThe Kingston Yacht Club building.
nTwo properties, one of them residential with a house and dock.
nMike Wallace Park.
nA soon-to-be-developed park above the ferry parking lot.
“We’re in the park-development business,” Pivarnik said. He sees enhancing community life as an important ongoing role for the port. “We belong to the Kingston Stakeholders [organization],” Pivarnik said. “These are business people who are very philanthropic and want to make Kingston better place to live.”
When asked what other factors might impact that goal, he mentions Arborwood, the proposed passenger-only ferry, and the empty Kingston Lumber property downtown.
“Arborwood may ultimately have over 600 homes and a shopping area,” he said. “But that’s a 20-year buildout plan. Ultimately, a rising tide floats all boats, so that could be a good thing.
“When it comes to the proposed foot ferry, my biggest concern is parking … Kitsap Transit has offered to bus people in from a parking lot by Albertsons [at Kingston Crossing]. But I think people are going to want to park close to the ferry docks.” The ferry dock in question is the same dock that was once used by the now-defunct Port of Kingston passenger-only ferry, SoundRunner. The infrastructure is all in place, Pivarnik said, but the waiting area would need to be repaired or replaced.
Pivarnik reserved his biggest concerns — and biggest dream — for the empty Kingston Lumber property. “There are three lots zoned industrial and two lots zones retail and they’re asking $2.5 million. It made great business sense for the Wagner family to move the business further out [by the Port Gamble exit on state Highway 104], where they had more room and more trade. But now we need to re-purpose the site.
“I’ve talked to the other members of Kingston Stakeholders (including Tom Wagner, the property owner] about finding investors willing to buy it and turn it into a destination place. I can see something like a Pike’s Place Market, where the Tribes could sell their seafood.”
