The following Letter to the Editor was submitted by verified Burien shoreline residents who requested anonymity.
[NOTE FROM EDITOR: Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Burien.News or Daniel Media. If you wish to submit a story, photo, article or letter, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.]
The Burien Planning Department, Planning Commission, and City Council voted to approve the 2044 Comprehensive Plan and the 2025 SFR Housing Zoning Code, even though these actions were inconsistent with the Burien Shoreline Master Program (SMP). Under the state Growth Management Act (GMA), the City is required to ensure consistency between the Comprehensive Plan, Zoning code, and other adopted Master Plans such as the SMP.
The law is clear: there cannot be internal inconsistencies or inconsistencies between Master Plans. The Planning Dept. and their Berk consultant falsely stated in the Comp Plan and Zoning Plan that a consistency check had been done. The mistakes must be corrected.
Residents of the Shoreline neighborhoods pointed this out during the public process, well before Council approval. Their comments were ignored. The Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) confirmed what residents already knew: the 2044 Comp Plan and the 2025 SFR Zoning Code are inconsistent with the SMP. That makes them unlawful under the GMA. The only remedy is for the Council to approve to put an Amendment on the docket to correct the error.
The Burien Planning Dept. is demanding Shoreline residents pay to correct the Planning Dept. and Council mistakes. City document amendment fees suggest the cost of filing and processing the Amendment could be more than $10,000. But why should residents foot the bill for an error caused by the Planning Dept., the consultants (Berk et al.), and the City Council itself? In fact, there is precedent: in 2008–2010, when the Planning Department made a mistake with the NERA Area Plan, the City—not residents—paid to amend the Comprehensive Plan. The standard was set then, and it should apply now.
For the past three months, the City Attorney Garmon Newsom II has not attended Council meetings. Only the Council can approve placing an amendment on the City’s Amendment docket, but they are not really sure how this should be done. Where is the City Attorney and why is the Council allowing itself to be exposed legally by refusing to bring him into the conversation?
Meanwhile, the City Manager claims there is no money available to cover the Amendment cost. This is misleading. The Amendment would not require outside consultants and therefore carries only minimal expense. The refusal to act is not about money. It is about the Planning Dept. and Council trying to avoid responsibility for their mistakes.
The clock is ticking. The timeline for filing an Amendment to the Comp Plan and a Zoning Change is slipping away. The Council and Mayor asked the City Manager for specifics about what they CAN implement and for a detailed, written timeline. However, no specific date was set. Will the requested Special Council meeting on September 22 or September 29 even happen? Residents deserve answers very soon!
The Council created this problem. The City should correct it—at its own expense. Anything less erodes public trust, ignores state law, and shifts an unjust financial burden onto Shoreline residents who did nothing wrong.
Contact your Council Members. Demand accountability now.
Email addresses for the Council:
Council members-council@burienwa.gov
Mayor of Burien-kevins@burienwa.gov
Stephanie Mora-stephaniem@burienwa.gov
Deputy Mayor Sarah Moore-sarahm@burienwa.gov
Alex Andrade-alexa@burienwa.gov
Linda Akey-lindaa@burienwa.gov
Jimmy Matta-jimmym@burienwa.gov
Hugo Garcia-hugog@burienwa.gov
Sincerely,
Residents of the Burien Shorelines
[NOTE FROM EDITOR: If you wish to submit a story, photo, article or letter, please contact us or email info@Burien.News. Even if you wish to remain anonymous, please include your name and phone number so we may contact you privately. We look forward to hearing from you.]
4 Responses
It’s sad the planning department and city staff failed to listen and act responsibly on shoreline requirements after they were all told and warned many times about the inconsistency. Even worse is that they want to now charge the public who gave good faith advice early on to fix their mistakes and incompetency. As I recall from my time on council, the shoreline MP was an extremely difficult process that should be respected. Stop letting your ideologies cloud your judgement which is unnecessarily costing taxpayers.
The City Manager is among a cadre of staff at City Hall who have Lake Burien and TTP in their cross hairs. This is their way to “stick it to those communities” for what ever petty reasons they might possess and they are breaking the law to do it. They have been informed of these issues for over 6 months and ignore them. Meanwhile the City Council looks like a bunch of school children being bullied in the play ground by the City Manager who consistently demonstrates insubordination to the Council, and they tolerate it. City Council, show some leadership and begin termination proceeding of the City Manager for cause immediately.
What is happening at the local level is happening at the national level. Intimidation, bullying with no accountability. People’s voices are not heard. Decisions are made with mo regards to who it may hurt. We all understand the need for affordable housing. But it needs to be in place where the infrastructure can support it. But not in the areas with 1 lane narrow streets on critical sensitive properties. This whole development is so disturbing.
CITY COUNCIL, DO THE RIGHT THING.
Watch the early June council meetings. There was clearly tension over the comp plan. Last time the City Attorney appeared. The City Manager wouldn’t allow him to speak. WHO are the City Manager and council working for? King County? The people of Burien need to know.