SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
Port of Bremerton Centennial Celebration
Page 5
Olympic View Business and Industrial Park opened in 1974 Using its financial resources and a grant from the Economic Development Administration the Port successfully constructed the first phase of utility and road infrastructure to welcome the first tenant, Imperial Manufacturing Company. In the ensuing 39 years, the Port invested grant and taxpayer resources in its mission to develop business and manufacturing sites. Today Olympic View Business and Industrial Park is home to 30 businesses that provide approximately 1,000 jobs, bringing an economic value of $200 million to the local economy.
QUINAULT BUILDING
Olympic View Business and Industrial Park Today RESTORED BEACH
In 1962 the Port’s Comp Scheme included Gorst Industrial Development
First Tenant – Imperial Manufacturing
Unlike private developers requiring an immediate return on investment, Port districts as “public enterprise” agencies have access to funding that provides for restoration and development of lands degraded by historical practices into valuable industrial and recreational real estate.
In the mid-1950’s Kitsap County Airport was home to the SCCA Seafair Nationals
Thousands of spectators watched hundreds of participants in the largest sports car racing event ever held in Kitsap County.
SCCA Seafair Nationals July 31, 1955
For nearly 55 years since, the inactive runway at Bremerton National Airport has been the home of Bremerton Raceway and Bremerton Motorsports Park where numerous organizations have held events such as drag races, auto-cross and moto-cross, road racing and law enforcement driver training. Nearly every summer weekend hundreds of participants and spectators visit Kitsap County to “go to the races” bringing an important recreational and economic value to the Kitsap County region.
In 1962 the Port’s Comprehensive Scheme of Harbor Improvements included a proposed project to fill “necessary or desirable” area in Gorst with fill material dredged from the bottom of Sinclair Inlet that would result in about 140-165 acres of upland for a pier and warehouse space and included a sufficiently dredged ship channel to provide access for ocean going vessels. The slow economy of the day and talks of bridging Sinclair Inlet precluded this ambitious project. In 2004 the Port partnered with
public agencies and private property owners to restore the Sinclair Inlet estuary in Gorst. Today, public access to this restored estuary allows for a close-up understanding of the rich ecosystem of our waterways and the importance of environmental stewardship.
GORST 1985
“The Port of Bremerton is at the center of the largest undeveloped industrially-zoned site in the central Puget Sound. As we work to diversify our economy with private-sector businesses, the Port of Bremerton is an essential partner to attract family wage jobs in Kitsap County.” Josh Brown, County Commissioner