Concerned Kennedy parents packed Burien’s Planning Commission meeting on Feb 15 to express their outrage at potential zoning changes that would affect all Burien neighborhoods.
By Burien-News Staff Reporter.
On Feb. 15, Burien Planning Commissioners heard proposed zoning modifications to allow for transitional housing and temporary shelter structures in single-family residential areas throughout Burien.
The discussion was prompted by Burien City Council when they narrowly voted 4-3 on Nov. 27, 2023 to accept $1 million from King County that would allow a Tiny Home Village on the City Light property, adjacent to Kennedy Catholic HS. The 35-pallet shelter location would potentially accommodate 60 homeless individuals.
Thursday’s top agenda item was labeled as “Introduction to Zoning Code Amendments related to Temporary Emergency Housing Village.” However, as the agenda item was presented by Senior Planner Alex Hunt, it became evident that it was related to citywide zoning, not just a singular variance for the City Light site.
Concerned about transparency and their children’s safety, scores of Kennedy Catholic parents and families packed the council chambers at City Hall. Eighteen people, mostly from the Kennedy community, spoke, including two top administrators. Commenters, including six others who favored the rezoning, generally agreed that 35 pallet homes and “transitional housing” next to a high school may not be ideal.
On Nov. 27, the council included provisions for a community liaison, requesting community outreach to inform City Light property neighbors who would be most impacted by the proposed changes.
Additionally, on Nov. 26, Principal Matthew Mohs wrote to the council and offered to host a forum to help inform neighbors. Not surprisingly, Kennedy parents were shocked when they heard that zoning changes were already being presented to the Planning Commission on Feb. 15.
So far there has been no forum, and no nearby neighbors showed up to speak on Thursday, so it is unclear how the community liaison accomplished the required neighborhood outreach.
Lots of questions unanswered…
Most community questions were about safety, operations, services provided, oversight, and screening of residents. Some questioned who benefits financially from the Tiny Homes, and what would be the ramifications of rezoning, which would apply to all Burien residential single-family neighborhoods.
Kennedy Vice Principal Katie Burns and Marketing Director Alyson Soma asked the Planning Commission to vote no on rezoning. Both talked about the poor planning and lack of transparency. Marketing Director Soma, also a former social worker, said she agreed with housing IF there are wrap-around services and a thoroughly thought-out plan. She stated, “1 million dollars is not a plan.” And she questioned, “How do I explain this to over 800 students and families?”
An architect familiar with rezoning asked about exceptions in the draft for transitional housing that are not allowed normally in single-family residential zones.
Parents spoke about the fears and concerns of Kennedy students. There was also a statement written by a recent Kennedy graduate. She was a cross-country runner who ran in the neighborhood by the school. There were attempts to force her into a car, glass was thrown at her, and she was exposed to full frontal nudity.
A neighbor of the former Oasis Encampment shared her first-hand experience living next to the encampment. She spoke about how the encampment started with strict rules, but later, due to low turnout, they relaxed their rules. Neighbors were told it was drug-free, but as she helped clean up, she saw hypodermic needles and foil everywhere.
In Favor…
Proponents of zoning changes also spoke up. One woman who volunteers at homeless shelters shared her positive viewpoints and benefits of emergency services offered for individuals in need.
Ex-Planning Commissioner Charles Schaefer made recommendations to the commissioners, including modifying the zoning parameters to include multiple, smaller sites, instead of only larger locations.
Another former commissioner suggested that the commissioners “act boldly,” “engage, don’t hate,” chastising the Burien Council for waiting until the last minute to select a site.
Still others offered support for zoning changes, stating that Burien homeless solutions required being a “YIMBY” [Yes-In-My-Back-Yard], and creating structured communities would help create safety because homeless people would be “off the streets.”
Although public comments are not considered to be “two-way communications,” commissioner follow-up questions and comments appropriately reflected the community’s concerns.
Commissioner Comments
Commission Chair Shelli Park began by thanking all speakers for their input and presence, assuring them that comments would be “taken into account.”
Commissioner Paul Croon opened up with the statement “What happens if we don’t pass this rezoning amendment? Senior Planner Alex Hunt was not sure, so could not give any specific consequences. Community Development Director Jeff Watson said that there could be loss of revenue.
When Park asked if the city would be open to lawsuits, Watson said that there is “potential that the state would sue the city,” but that it was “only speculation.”
Croon also reasoned that state law doesn’t require them to choose the lot next to Kennedy. He said, “I’m hearing lots of resistance against that particular site.”
Alternate Commissioner David Gould brought up an interesting point. He calculated that the 1,433 emergency housing units required in the county plan by 2044, at 60 people per site, equals 24 sites. That’s a lot of transitional housing around the city. He expressed reservations regarding the proposed changes since “we have no idea what we are voting on.”
Watson redirected the discussion to focus on land use, rather than factor in the human impact of the rezoning project. Hunt explained that there were lots of questions they couldn’t answer without the Request for Proposal contract.
Commissioner Jessica Ivey pointed out that there is no precedent for this rezoning and asked if anybody was doing a feasibility study about whether this is in the budget. Hunt answered that it was not in his scope of knowledge.
Slides from Senior Planner Alex Hunt’s presentation:
A formal Public Hearing on the topic of zoning is scheduled on Feb 28th at 5:30 pm, giving further opportunity for public comment.
Planning Commissioner Chair Shelli Park requested a “round table” discussion format, and said there could be a vote at that time if the Commissioners were prepared.
Planning Commission LINKS:
Link to the meeting video
Agenda – Feb. 15, 2024 meeting
BurienWA.gov additional links
