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SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 | Vol. 90, No. 48 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
Boat ramp plan earns praise from boaters, gripes from neighbors By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
Justin Burnett / The Record
Dan Ollis [above], owner and CEO of Whidbey Coffee, is celebrating 25 years in business this month. What started as a small stand in front of Payless has grown to company with 13 stores in four counties.
Whidbey coffee master Brewing success for 25 years, one cup at a time By RON NEWBERRY South Whidbey Record
Record file photo
Dan Ollis serves coffee in a picture that appeared in the Oct. 1, 1991, edition of The Record.
His iPad is a constant whirl of activity. Dan Ollis keeps the device handy for communication on the fly. As president of a buzzing coffee company with 122 employees, he’s often on the go, making the front seat of his black Chevy Tahoe his mobile office. “I’m in the people business,” Ollis said. “The people are out in the field, at the stores, at the locations, in the communities. That’s where I spend the bulk of my life.” On a recent morning, Ollis spent time sitting in the sun outside one of his Whidbey Coffee stores in Oak Harbor, wondering where the years have gone. This month, Whidbey Coffee is celebrating its 25-year anniversary, leaving the 44-year-old man who started the company
trying to come to grips with how fast those years have whizzed by. Recalling his early days behind an espresso cart in front of Payless in Freeland, Ollis said he never could have imagined how the business would grow and expand to 13 retail centers in four different counties and include the acquisition of a Seattle roasting facility. “I never would have fathomed it. Never,” Ollis said. “And what an amazing journey. And it’s just getting going.” Ollis doesn’t like the story of Whidbey Coffee Co. to focus on him and instead points to his family, loyal customers and dedicated employees as the reasons behind the company’s success. “He’s very positive,” said Leah NortonSEE OLLIS, A12
At least two neighbors of the Possession Beach boat ramp have concerns about noise mitigation with the proposed new design. At a Port of South Whidbey public hearing June 10, South End residents Laurence Bucklin and Tom Stinson took issue with the relocation of the dock floats to the south side of the nearly 172-foot ramp. They worry it will bring the accompanying sounds of revving truck engines and yelling people too near to their homes. “By moving the floats to the other side, you’re bringing the activity another 40 or 50 feet closer to us,” Bucklin said at the port commissioners’ workshop meeting Tuesday. The port’s project to redo its boat ramp by making it between 8 and 12 inches higher, replacing the creosote wood pilings with steel ones and relocating the floats is focused around reducing sand accretion on the ramp. It’s a regular problem for the port, forcing clearing to make it useable for boat trailers. But sand lance, an important food source for salmon, are known to spawn in such areas. When the port wants to clear a ramp, it must first be checked by the state for eggs. “This design greatly reduces our costs in terms of cleaning the material, it’s more environmentally sensitive in that the sand moves in that direction,” said Port SEE RAMP, A3