Burien City Council Meeting June 15, 2026

Mayor Sarah Moore: I am calling the regular meeting of the Burien City Council to order on June 15, 2026. The time is 5:30. This hybrid meeting is being conducted in person at Burien City Hall and virtually via Zoom webinar.Please join me in rising to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Garcia, would you be able to do the native land and peoples acknowledgement?

Deputy Mayor Hugo Garcia: Yep, happy to. We begin by honoring and acknowledging that this meeting is taking place on the ancestral lands and waters of the many Duwamish tribal peoples who have since time immemorial protected and been in relationship with the Salish Sea and these precious lands we now know as Burien and our home. As a government agency that is occupying indigenous lands, it is important that we remember the history of our area and to work towards fixing the injustices that persist. We acknowledge our region’s tribal citizens, their descendants, and their ancestors, and we honor their invaluable contribution to this region’s community’s identity, economy, history, culture, and future. Thank you.

Mayor Moore: The clerk will announce interpretation instructions and will then take roll.

City Clerk: The City of Burien offers Spanish interpretation via Zoom. For those attending on Zoom, please select the language you would like to listen to this meeting in, either English or Spanish. The next slide shows how to select a language on your mobile app. With that, we’ll go into roll call.

Mayor Sarah Moore?

Mayor Moore: Present.

Clerk: Deputy Mayor Hugo Garcia?

Deputy Mayor Garcia: Presente.

Clerk: Council Member Sam Mendes?

Council Member Mendes: Present.

Clerk: Council Member Kevin Schilling?

Council Member Schilling: Here.

Clerk: Council Member Andrade?

Council Member Andrade: Present.

Clerk: Council Member Rocco Devito?

Council Member Devito: Here.

Clerk: Mayor Aller? [Speaker unclear — possible ASR error or absent member]

[Unknown]: Present.

Mayor Moore: Do we have a motion to confirm the agenda?

[Unknown]: So moved.

[Unknown]: Second.

Mayor Moore: We have a motion and a second to confirm the agenda. All those in favor, please raise your hand or say I.

We have Council Member Mendes, Deputy Mayor Garcia, myself, Council Member Schilling, Council Member Andrade, and Council Member Devito. The agenda is approved as written, and we move into proclamations and presentations, starting with the United States Semiquincentennial Proclamation by Council Member Mendes.

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Council Member Mendes: Thank you, Mayor. This is my first one, so hopefully I get it right.

Whereas July 4th, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1776, signifying the founding of the United States of America. And whereas the Declaration of Independence proclaimed timeless principles of profound significance to the national heritage of the United States, including that all are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights, and this declaration itself was one against authoritarianism and tyranny, that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” And whereas the land of the United States was stewarded by indigenous communities since time immemorial, that this land was often forcibly taken from them by the United States government. And currently there are 575 recognized tribal nations within the United States, many with histories of broken treaties, forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, colonization, and atrocities like the Trail of Tears. And whereas the transatlantic slave trade, a global system between the 15th to 19th century, enslaved Africans who were violently kidnapped and sold and transported to the Americas to fuel the agricultural and economic growth of Western empires and whose forced contributions gave us the largest total economy in the world. And similar systems of oppression continued post emancipation and continue today. And whereas during the 19th and 20th centuries, the transcontinental railroad raced to connect the east and west coasts became a reality with the labor of Chinese and Irish immigrants often working under harsh conditions of segregation and exploitation. And whereas the 40-hour work week, the weekend, child labor laws, and work safety laws are owed to the countless laborers who organized, went on strike, and negotiated with employers on a fundamentally uneven playing field with a government often more interested in economic growth than the welfare of its people. And that these laborers often paid for these rights with their livelihoods and their lives.

And whereas the United States has become a nation of immigrants where the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 gave amnesty to over two million people and in the past 40 years there hasn’t been another reform to the backbone of our economy who according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy paid $96.7 billion in U.S. taxes in 2022. And whereas in our region, indigenous Coast Salish peoples have protected these ancestral lands and waters and been in relationship with the Salish Sea and the precious lands we know as Burien and our home state of Washington. And whereas the Semiquincentennial offers an opportunity for the people of Washington State, which joined the United States in 1889 as the 42nd state, to reflect on our past, to move forward, honor the diverse contributions of all community members, and envision the future we strive to create for subsequent generations where Washingtonians are treated equitably and able to achieve the American dream.

Now therefore, the City Council of the City of Burien, Washington does hereby recognize and commemorate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America on July 4th, 2026 and proclaim July 4th, 2026 as United States Semiquincentennial Day.

The City of Burien encourages the community to participate in commemorative events that reflect on our history, celebrate our achievements, and reaffirm our commitment to the ideals of liberty.

I do have some guests here to receive this proclamation. I just want to add a few other things as well. Simply put, this is a struggle for me. I don’t really feel like celebrating right now. And I don’t think I’m the only one. We are celebrating the Declaration of Independence in which 250 years ago, people sought to throw off the yoke of an authoritarian regime. They established a government based on democratic ideals of liberty and equality. And that very same government today is itself an authoritarian regime. That same government is kidnapping people in the streets of Burien. It is taking a chainsaw to programs which human lives depend on. It is engaging in rampant corruption the likes of which we have never seen, in the interests of billionaires. So I’ve had to ask myself, what exactly are we celebrating?

I can’t tell anyone how to feel. But let me offer this — the same things that I have to remind myself of. First of all, that you are not alone. There is a community, in person, off the internet, for those who seek it. Choose to feel joy right now. It is the most anti-authoritarian thing we can do, among many other actions. And when you look at the flag, or watch the fireworks, or ponder our nation’s founding, remember the freedom fighters. Remember the revolutionary soldiers, most of whom were volunteers and many of whom were literally barefoot enduring frigid northeastern winters and disease-ridden summers. Remember the abolitionists who were considered radicals at the time who fought for the freedom of slaves. Remember the slaves who themselves often gave their lives in attempts to be free. Remember the suffragists, the labor strikers, the bus riders, the innumerable immigrants that came here to eke out a living and add a stone to this great building. And remember everyone who continues to this day to hold our government to account for the ideals upon which it was founded. To quote Dr. King on the night before he was killed: “Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.”

I would like to introduce the Muhabat family, who has graciously agreed to accept this proclamation. They originally come from Afghanistan. They moved here to Burien in 2021. So they’ve been here for about five years now. I’m so grateful that you could be here and I’m so grateful that you’re here in Burien. If you’d like to offer any comments, please feel free to speak anything you’d like.

[Muhabat family member]: Sorry, I don’t have anything to say, but I just want to thank you for honoring our family.

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Mayor Moore: Our next proclamation is the Summer of Soccer proclamation from Deputy Mayor Hugo Garcia.

Deputy Mayor Garcia: Thank you. Super excited to be able to share this. And to that point of being able to share moments of joy during challenging times, I think it was important for us to celebrate this as a city. So here is the proclamation.

Whereas the International Federation of Association Football, also known as FIFA, organizes the world’s premier international soccer tournament which, like the Olympics, takes place every four years — with this year’s World Cup confirmed to be the largest in its history, expanding from 32 participating countries to 48. And whereas the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be for the first time in its history hosted by three countries, with 16 host cities across North America, with Seattle representing the Pacific Northwest with six matches taking place at Lumen Field, temporarily renamed Seattle Stadium. And whereas there will be an estimated two billion television viewers drawing attention to our region. And whereas the group stage matches played locally in Seattle Stadium will include teams representing Belgium, Egypt, the United States of America, Australia, Qatar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Iran, with matches on June [date unclear] and Pride weekend. And whereas the City of Burien, in conjunction with Discover Burien, the Highline Heritage Museum, the Latino Civic Alliance, and the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce, has coordinated a series of local community events to celebrate Burien’s Summer of Soccer and fun, showcasing the culture and events unique to Burien. And whereas community members and visitors can enjoy live broadcasts of select tournament matches in our outdoor viewing areas throughout the city, live entertainment and family-friendly activities while supporting local businesses. And whereas the Latino Civic Alliance, in partnership with the City of Burien and other community partners, hosted the Burien Copita Community youth soccer tournament on June 6th, 2026, a free family-friendly event at Highline Memorial Stadium. And whereas the Highline Heritage Museum will host cultural events such as the Taco Festival to celebrate Burien’s distinction as a foodie paradise and supporting local businesses through an immersive cultural experience featuring curated vendors, storytelling, and interactive installations that highlight the heritage of tacos across Mexico and the local community, as well as organizing a Frida Kahlo festival and a multicultural youth festival, in addition to serving as host site for watch parties. And whereas opportunities to be part of the excitement of this major global sporting event will span across the city beyond Town Square Park to Chelsea Park, Old Burien, and Boulevard Park, to make the events accessible for residents to enjoy near home. And whereas the City of Burien invites community and visitors to experience the world in one city as they eat global and cheer local throughout Burien’s Summer of Soccer and fun.

Now therefore, the City Council of the City of Burien, Washington does hereby ask all Burien community members to join together to proclaim the summer of 2026 as Summer of Soccer in the City of Burien, and urge all to support global unity, connection, and recreation.

I am really excited to invite a couple of folks to share and receive the proclamation. One of them is actually a longtime Burien resident. I’ll take a personal privilege to share a little bit about our receiver of our proclamation. Fred Mendoza is the chair of the board of the Rave Foundation. The Rave Foundation is the Sounders FC nonprofit organization. The Rave Foundation had set a goal to set up 26 small free soccer fields for kids by the year 2026. I’m sure that Fred will share — if not, they smashed that record — they went to 52 small pitches. And they’re really focused on field-anchoring programs that foster health, learning, and joy.

There’s also a great book called The Authentic Seattle Sounders: Authentic Masterpiece. It’s a local book written by a former radio sports host, Mike Gastineau. And it speaks to the victory of the Seattle Sounders team being able to advocate and fight for a soccer stadium during a time when the Seattle community was possibly going to lose a football stadium and the Seahawks were moving out of town. Local owner Paul Allen sought assistance from the local soccer community to get support to build a stadium to not just keep the Seahawks in town, but to also think forward towards a future where it could potentially also be a soccer stadium. Fred and a lot of soccer moms and soccer community members in the late ’90s were able to advocate to get this stadium to become not just a football stadium but a soccer stadium. And now today we are hosting this World Cup tournament because of that vision from those community members and those soccer moms who spent a lot of time that summer getting the vote out to make sure that this stadium was a soccer and football stadium.

Mr. Mendoza’s family are longtime residents. He had a law firm here for a long time. His daughter went to Seahurst Elementary. Seahurst Elementary is one of the first of many pitches that we have had here in the city. So I’m really excited to share this proclamation with Fred Mendoza from the Rave Foundation and Midori Hobbs, the executive director of the Rave Foundation.

Fred Mendoza: Thank you, Deputy Mayor. This is Midori Hobbs, our executive director at the Rave Foundation. As you all on the council know, you sit there and you create policy, but the real work often is done by the folks sitting on the other side of the room. And this is one of those persons. On behalf of the Rave Foundation and all of the community nonprofits who work to bring soccer to children, thank you, City of Burien, for this proclamation. As I said the other day at the flag raising — way to go, Burien. The Summer of Soccer idea and its implementation have been awesome. I’ve been to several of the watch parties now and Burien, for our small community, rates right up there with the rest of them. So many communities didn’t take the opportunity to leverage the World Cup for their own communities. They’re all looking now at cities like Burien. Way to go, Burien.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Rave Foundation, let me just take a minute. We’re almost a teenager — 13 years ago, Adrienne Hanauer, who is the principal owner of the Seattle Sounders, and I decided to create the Rave Foundation. We knew, like all of you know and like Seattle is demonstrating to the world today and for the next month, that soccer is a universal language. It brings people together. It’s community. It’s unity. That was our ingredient. We also knew that children have very few places to play where they don’t have to buy a uniform and join a team and pay a lot of money to play. We decided that we were going to start creating mini pitches on local school grounds and local city parks where kids could just drop by and play anytime they want in a free space that’s well taken care of. We also know that all you really need to play soccer is a soccer ball. You see it played on the streets and almost anywhere where children get together. We decided we wanted to give away 100,000 soccer balls, and with the help of Delta Airlines we’re going to meet that 100,000 soccer ball giveaway shortly.

When Seattle was awarded the World Cup, we had this audacious idea — maybe we could do 26 soccer fields by 2026. 26 by 26. Well, we blew through that in a couple years. And so somebody said, “Well, what’s 2 times 26? Maybe we could do 52.” And as the chair of the board, I said, “That might be a stretch.” Well, we’re at 52. And so the other day somebody said, “Well, what’s two times 52?” So I guess we’re headed for 104. We do it all over the state. We’re in Vancouver. We’re in Yakima, several fields in Yakima. We’re in Tacoma. We partner with the Puyallup Tribe and the Muckleshoot Tribe. And our goal is to build 102 small fields for kids to play freely in a safe environment around the state. And we’re going to do it.

Our very first mini pitch was Beverly Park, and five of our seven early pitches are in the Highline School District. So we believe strongly in the City of Burien. As the deputy mayor said, I’ve lived here in your neighbor Normandy Park for 48 years. My two daughters went through the Highline School District. In fact, my wife graduated from Highline High School — but I won’t tell you how far back that was. Our executive director before Midori was the executive director of the Highline School Foundation, which I started with a bunch of parents back in 2001. So we are deeply embedded in this community. We love this community. We watched it grow. Way to go, Burien. Thank you.

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Mayor Moore: Thank you. Next up we have the Sustainable Airport Master Plan near-term projects SAMP SEPA Draft Environmental Impact Statement presentation from Dave Kaplan, who is the local government relations manager for the Port of Seattle.

Dave Kaplan (Port of Seattle): Madame Mayor, Council, thank you. Thank you for the time on your agenda. Glad to be with you tonight.

With the release of the SEPA Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Sustainable Airport Master Plan, or the SAMP, at SEA, we want to share directly with you information about the document and especially how to participate in the public comment process.

I’d like to start with a little background about why we’re doing the SAMP, as it’s been quite a while since it’s been in front of us. You might recall the FAA’s environmental assessment of the airport’s master plan was published in late 2024, which I think is the last time I was here. Today I’ll be talking about the port’s work to conduct an environmental impact statement under SEPA — Washington’s State Environmental Policy Act.

While the original terminal has been expanded and updated since opening in 1949, it’s working well beyond its current design capacity of 30 million annual passengers. Perhaps you’ve used the new checkpoint one at the south end, or traveled through the new gates on the E Concourse, or used the flow-through passenger processing that Alaska opened up at the north end of the terminal, or even this last week got a chance to go through the C Concourse expansion project. These have helped the terminal do better in handling continued demand. But our region’s growth in air transportation, especially in passengers, has continued year-over-year.

Other than the understandable downturn during the COVID pandemic, SEA airport handled nearly 53 million passengers last year — 52.7 million passengers.

The airport capacity baseline study, which the Puget Sound Regional Council published in 2021, showed a strong correlation between the region’s population growth and the airport’s activity.

The forecast for future demand is very strong even when new capacity from SAMP is assumed — which it was in both the PSRC and the state airport capacity planning.

Based on forecasted demand, there will be 27 million more passenger boardings per year than SEA airport can accommodate at a comfortable level of service by 2050.

And the new Washington State Aviation System Plan, which was released just a couple weeks ago, shows that Washington State’s unconstrained demand forecast reaches 107 million annual passengers by 2050 — well beyond what we can accommodate at one airport.

Without new facilities for future projected demand, people will still travel, but congestion at SEA airport will increase, causing additional delays, crowded facilities, and congestion in and around the airport.

There are some key factors in our region which drive this continued demand — business growth, international business, leisure travel, connections, well-paid jobs, companies and schools based here that attract residents. These are some of the reasons people travel to and from Washington State.

Just as cities undertake comprehensive planning to look at future needs and goals, the port began developing the airport master plan. This work identifies future needs and proposes airport improvements to address those needs. At SEA, one of the biggest needs shown in early forecasts of robust growth — and later confirmed by the PSRC work and now the state study — was to serve the forecasted future demand.

And this planning work was one of the earliest efforts at an airport to include sustainability directly in the planning, not just as an approach to later include in project design. So the master plan at SEA is the Sustainable Airport Master Plan, or the SAMP.

The sustainability component of the airport master plan identified where we build, how we build, and how we operate in the existing three-runway configuration.

I want to briefly flag the updated timeline. We completed scoping on the SAMP environmental review in 2018. The COVID pandemic and its effects struck in the middle of the analysis and extended the schedule significantly.

Last year, the FAA completed its federal environmental review of the plan, and the FAA found no significant impact — which means that building the proposed new projects, as compared to not building the projects, does not cause additional effects that exceed applicable standards in the difference categories analyzed in the FAA’s environmental assessment.

Now, with the port as the lead agency under SEPA, we published the SEPA Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which is now available for public review and official comment.

As you may already know, environmental review under federal and state laws is done to assess how projects, if built, may impact the environment compared to the existing and future conditions if the projects are not built, and helps decision makers in the community understand how proposed projects may affect the environment before actions are taken. It compares the proposed action — in this case the Sustainable Airport Master Plan near-term projects — against other alternatives that could still meet the needs, and against a no-action scenario, as if no projects were built.

The port is the lead agency for this environmental review under state law. The port voluntarily chose to go the more involved EIS route for the SAMP near-term projects even when impacts could be mitigated. The SEPA review builds on the earlier NEPA analysis done at the FAA’s direction.

The port went beyond what is required under SEPA by examining a more detailed air quality analysis, including a human health risk assessment, a qualitative human health noise literature review, a qualitative literature review of particulate matter, environmental justice, and cumulative impacts.

Now I have a short video to share which explains the process and the why.

[Video narration:] In 2018, the Port of Seattle completed its Sustainable Airport Master Plan, or SAMP, for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, or SEA, which outlines the growth strategy for the airport. This plan addresses increasing passenger and cargo volumes through a suite of projects known as near-term projects. Longer-term projects were also identified which will require additional planning and environmental review. The purpose of the near-term projects is to address challenges like crowded passenger facilities, cargo handling, and outdated airfield design. By 2032, SEA is expected to serve over 57 million passengers per year. The projects include building a second terminal and roadways, enhancing taxiways, and ensuring that the airport meets FAA standards while improving efficiency for both passengers and cargo. We’re also planning for increased fuel storage, including storage of sustainable aviation fuels. These projects are expected to be completed or well underway by 2032.

SEPA is expected to be complete by the end of the year. An environmental review is an important process. SEPA is Washington State’s environmental review law and helps decision makers and the community understand how proposed projects may affect the environment before actions are taken. It helps determine how the proposed project might affect environmental elements such as air and water quality, climate, plants and animals, traffic, and noise levels in local communities. SEPA environmental review identifies impacts between action and no-action alternatives. Impacts expected to exceed regulatory thresholds are considered significant impacts.

Where significant impacts don’t occur, it is usually because impacts are limited or minimal based on existing regulatory requirements. If significant impacts are identified, the environmental review outlines ways to avoid, minimize, or mitigate these effects, ensuring projects can proceed responsibly while protecting both people and the environment. In many cases, SEA has programs in place that require impacts to be addressed through regulatory requirements or voluntary programs.

SEPA technical analyses were conducted to complement the rigor of the NEPA EA. Additional required analyses included greenhouse gases and climate, earth, transportation, housing, plants and animals, and cumulative impacts. Additional voluntary analyses performed by the port included air quality, noise, human health, and environmental justice.

The environmental impact statement performed for the Port of Seattle analyzed 16 elements of the environment for potential impacts and found one with significant impacts that can be mitigated by the port below the threshold of significance. This is surface transportation. To offset the expected transportation impacts from the near-term projects, the Port of Seattle will invest about $40 million in improvements to ensure smoother traffic flow in and around the airport.

Detailed information on the findings, elements of the environment, and how to submit a comment or attend one of our public meetings can be found online at sea-samp.com. You can also sign up to receive updates on SEA’s Sustainable Airport Master Plan. We encourage you to participate in this important process. Together, we’re building the future of SEA.

Dave Kaplan: Let me step through how the document is organized. The SEPA EIS evaluates 16 separate environmental topics, which SEPA calls elements of the environment. It begins with a summary and then is organized with chapters on purpose and need, alternatives, affected environment, impacts and mitigation measures, and cumulative impacts. Within each chapter, it spells out what information was in the NEPA document and what is new to SEPA.

A full document and appendices are available at sea-samp.com.

You’ll see on the SAMP homepage there is a link for selecting materials that will pull up the six chapters and the appendices for each of the different elements of the environmental review.

Physical copies of the SAMP Draft EIS are at the library — shown here — at the Port of Seattle’s headquarters at Pier 69, and at the conference center at SEA. You’ll notice it’s also available at the library here in Burien.

The four public meetings shown here will be identical open-house format, offered in different locations near the airport on weeknights as well as a weekend date. There’ll be several stations at the in-person open houses which will focus on the various areas of analysis, with technical staff available to answer questions and provide more information.

At each meeting, an official hearings examiner will take comments directly from attendees who wish to comment for the SEPA record, as well as printed comment forms if people want to write and turn in comments.

Language translation assistance will be available at all public meetings in addition to child care services. The public comment period runs from May 22nd through July 21st — 60 days, which is double the required comment period for a SEPA EIS. And the public open house will be here in Burien on Saturday, June 27th, at 10 a.m.

Now that the EIS is published, our focus is on encouraging involvement and public comment in the review. For that work, we’re doing several things. We’ve emphasized using language that stays away from jargon and is more conversational when communicating.

In addition to the project-specific website sea-samp.com, we’ll send out a community mailer to over 100,000 households about the meetings. The meeting boards and other outreach material are translated into eight languages — two more than under NEPA. And we’re emphasizing online translation of videos and boards with use of closed caption translation.

We’re expanding the port’s network of community-based organizations, many of whom are grant applicants and recipients of our South King and Port Communities Fund, and using community liaisons to engage further and help us meet directly with community members.

That’s the postcard that I believe has already gone out and should be showing up in your mailboxes.

Next steps are shown here. I want to emphasize that every comment received is reviewed and responded to in the final EIS, which we expect to publish before the end of this year unless additional analysis is needed.

Also, while the EIS will be completed, it does not authorize any of the near-term projects. Just as the commission does now with our capital programs, projects need to be proposed and receive commission authorization in order to proceed.

With that, I’m happy to take any questions.

Mayor Moore: Thank you very much. That was a lot of information. Any council members have questions?

Council Member Mendes: Dave, thank you for being here. I’m thinking a lot about that phrase — not getting the exact words right — but “no serious impact.” One question I’ve got is: in 1997, the consulting firm HOK warned that increased air traffic from construction of a Third Runway would contribute to a cycle of economic blight in neighborhoods adjacent to the airport. HOK recommended that five cities, including Burien, receive subsidies to help offset losses in property tax revenues resulting from a decline in property values. In light of the damage already done and the additional noise and pollution these expansion projects will generate, isn’t it time for the port to consider providing such compensation? We’re aware the port has long held that such direct payments would violate the state constitution. However, the state solicitor general now says that is incorrect — that such expenditures are allowable when they are made to “carry out a fundamental governmental purpose.” Is the port prepared to revise its position and provide such assistance to the airport-impacted communities?

Dave Kaplan: I appreciate the question, but I think given the other venues in which conversations are going on, I don’t think I’m going to answer that one.

Mayor Moore: Any further questions from council? Deputy Mayor Garcia.

Deputy Mayor Garcia: I’ll just add — to the information within the question asked by my colleague Council Member Mendes — one of the neighborhoods that hasn’t been impacted positively since the expansion of the Third Runway to today here in Burien is Boulevard Park. It’s under the flight path. It’s our lowest-income neighborhood, highest poverty rate neighborhood. We have a neighborhood that had a grocery store move away — it now has a dollar store in its place. It had a bank branch move away and now has no banking services in the area. Over the course of the last 20-something years, it’s really had zero positive economic impact, especially since it got annexed. I just wanted to convey that as part of that question that was raised. I really hope to get more answers. I know there are a lot of conversations going around, but I think it’s important that the council gets feedback on some of these questions because they are really critical.

The City of Burien has made clear that it is very concerned about the cumulative impact involving the SR-509 corridor completion project. The Washington Department of Transportation has estimated that at peak hours a fully completed freeway will carry anywhere from 3,700 to nearly 4,700 vehicles per hour. And yet the port asserts in its environmental impact statement that the corridor completion project will — and I’m quoting here — “reduce existing criteria pollution levels through a reduction in vehicle miles traveled.” This just seems like a sleight of hand. Thousands of people live and work near SR-509 and they will have to endure a significant increase in noise and air pollution. How are they to interpret this conclusion as anything other than a slap in the face?

Dave Kaplan: I highly recommend going to the public meetings and asking the people who worked on that portion of the environmental review. You’ll be getting the answers directly from the consultants.

Mayor Moore: Does anyone else have questions? Council Member Devito.

Council Member Devito: We have a growing body of research that suggests ultrafine particles could be a major public health problem for airport communities. We’re seeing in the environmental impact statement that there’s limited and conflicting data and insufficient context. Will the port commit to studying the issue further and finding out more ways ultrafine particles might be affecting our communities underneath the flight path?

Dave Kaplan: The Port of Seattle, as part of our SEA Stakeholder Advisory Roundtable, put together an agenda of seven priorities to pursue at the federal level. One of those was a federal study of ultrafine particles. That’s what would be needed in order to move the dial when it comes to the standards that are applied. And Burien was actually part of that lobbying effort.

Mayor Moore: Any additional questions? Before we go to second questions, anyone else?

[Unknown council member]: I would like to follow up a little on the ultrafine particle question. At the point when an ultrafine particle study does take place, is the airport preparing for the possibility that it does do harm and that the harm has accumulated over many decades by that time?

Dave Kaplan: There are two aspects to that. There is correlation and there is causation. And there is no definitive causation proven relative to exposure from ultrafine particles that are directly related to aviation. Ultrafine particles in general are problematic, and that’s where the research needs to happen. So until the research happens, the research is happening on an epidemiological scale in cities near places where ultrafine particles are emitted.

Mayor Moore: Any additional questions? Council Member Mendes, you had your hand up.

Council Member Mendes: Sure. Thank you. Another significant concern that Burien residents deal with every day is the decibel level. I was just at SeaTac Park — which is right on the border of the City of Burien — on Saturday for soccer for my three-year-old, and planes are flying right overhead. I have friends who live in Old Boulevard Park and other neighborhoods that are directly under the flight path. I’m told folks get used to it. I’m privileged to live in a neighborhood that doesn’t have that constant flights overhead, but boy do I notice it when I’m there. You literally have to break up conversations about every 30 to 60 seconds to let a plane pass overhead just to have a conversation.

Regarding decibels — the FAA has continued to use the outdated decibel averaging measurement of 65 DNL as its threshold for designated high noise zones near airports. The Environmental Protection Agency actually says 55 DNL is the limit for safe noise level outdoors. And the World Health Organization standard is now 45 dB. The FAA in a noise policy review issued in 2023 acknowledged that communities are not experiencing the benefits from newer, quieter technology and operations from quieter aircraft because of the substantial increase in aircraft operations over U.S. airspace.

The proposed airport expansion will add some 350 takeoffs and landings every single day to a daily average exceeding 1,500. So the port positions itself as an environmental champion. Isn’t it time your agency takes an aggressive public stand for a major overhaul of federal noise standards rather than continuing to operate under rules that guarantee greater harm to people in the cities near the airport?

Dave Kaplan: I’m glad you brought that up, since on the StART agenda was getting the FAA to change its noise standard — to look at other standards other than the 65 DNL. It’s when we partner with the communities to try and change federal policy, which is where everything’s driven from, that we actually make some progress. And we greatly appreciate that partnership with all of the communities that belong to StART and the Highline Forum.

Mayor Moore: Further questions? Deputy Mayor Garcia.

Deputy Mayor Garcia: I worked in banking for a number of years and worked in economic development. I am here because I came through the airport as an immigrant. I am very aware of the impact — especially economically — that the airport and the port have on our region. And I know that it seems the single biggest reason the proposed expansion is being made is to sustain the airport as an economic engine for the Pacific Northwest. The port argues the airport impacts — that cities benefit from this. Your own analysis conducted by a company called Community Attributes clearly shows that Burien does not. According to their data, on-site airport activity generated more than 34,000 jobs for the airport-adjacent cities in 2023, but only about 700 of those jobs were in Burien. Of nearly $8 million in local tax revenues, Burien received $230,000. On-site airport activity accounted for 0.6% of Burien’s GDP — by far the lowest share in all of South King County. Yet Burien probably sustains the greatest share of economic, environmental, and public health damage from airport operations. That is an unacceptable disparity, which is not nearly offset by programs that the port has in place to address the problem. What additional measures will the port take to better support this city and its people?

Dave Kaplan: I can’t speak to the Community Attributes study. I suggest you have a conversation with the experts at the open houses and also review the material. I’ve heard this brought up in another venue, and I’m not sure the characterization’s quite right, but I strongly suggest having a conversation with the people who actually did the work.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. Just for clarity — would that be the port commissioners or the folks who did the work?

Dave Kaplan: The people who did the work. I don’t know if there’ll be people from Community Attributes there, or the people who worked on the economic element from the study, but they’ll be at the open houses. There’ll also be two online open houses — one on June 30th and one on July 9th.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. I saw a hand from Council Member Schilling, who has not spoken yet.

Council Member Schilling: Dave, thanks for being here. Especially considering we’ve done a lot over the last decade and more to advocate on behalf of this community in regard to the expansion of the airport. But I’m curious — does the SeaTac airport have an official position on a second regional airport? Was there an official position that SeaTac airport took with the Washington State coordinating group — something like the Washington State Transportation Coordinating Committee for placement of a second airport? Has SEA had an official public position on that? And if not, why hasn’t SeaTac been more vocal or supportive of potential additional regional airport capacity to reduce the impact that’s clearly happening in our backyard?

Dave Kaplan: Good question. The port commission has made clear — at a commission meeting, I want to say about three years ago if not before — that they support the siting of an additional commercial aviation airport. The port of Seattle doesn’t have any direct impact on it. It’s a state legislative decision in terms of funding and designating additional airport capacity in conjunction with local jurisdictions and their master plans.

The Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission, the first one, basically got to the 11th hour on siting a greenfield airport, and the governor pulled the plug because of the opposition they were hearing from the communities where that was being discussed. The current Commercial Aviation Working Group looks at all alternatives, including high-speed rail and other things, but to date they’ve not come forward with any recommendations on what’s going to be an alternative.

In terms of SEA itself — the need exceeds what we can build. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t build what we need to build. We are physically constrained. For the Sustainable Airport Master Plan, we did not acquire any additional property. We’ve got SR-509 on one side, SR-518 at the north end, International Boulevard on the eastern boundary — there’s nowhere else to go. So the constraints are both physical and related to airspace. In the long run, it’s going to take additional facilities to be able to accommodate that growth we anticipate going through the region. Thank you.

Mayor Moore: Any additional questions?

Deputy Mayor Garcia: I will just make comments and save my questions for some of the outreach community meetings. But I just wanted to share that I think the community meetings already established are insufficient. And the period of 60 days is insufficient. I believe some folks went to a recent commission meeting and asked for more time. This is a very big issue to discuss and share with our residents. So I ask for there to be an extension. I’m hoping to reach out to commissioners directly to see if there’s consideration for 120 days.

The schools where everything’s happening — I noticed that the only school hosting a community gathering is probably the second farthest school away from the airport. It would have been nice to have that community outreach meeting at one of the schools underneath the flight path. And I invite and ask the commission to do a follow-up meeting in that flight path neighborhood so they can see those impacts.

I’m going to push back a little on the comment about the airport being landlocked. Yes, there’s a fixed amount of land the airport can’t expand on. But there has been growth, and there’s literally a report sharing that there’s going to be more flights. Engineers are trained to do that growth within the same land you’re working with. We use the same landlocked logic to address housing — we have the same fixed amount of land. So there will be ways to expand. And these expansions are going to bear more heavily on Burien than on any other city. I really hope to get some collaboration from the commissioners when I reach out in hopes of getting more time to do outreach to all of our city. Thank you.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. I want to follow up on two questions. Council Member Schilling asked about new airports, and in your response you talked about the geographical realities — can’t go north, south, east, or west. But more flights will be coming into SEA and the plan now maxes out at a certain point. What happens after that? Assuming we don’t have a location for another airport right now — if we suddenly get one, it’s decades away from talking about it to becoming a reality. Flights are still building. When we hit the maximum we have now, are we going to start another runway? Is there reassurance that you — or your counterpart — won’t be back in ten years asking for something else that echoes and rhymes with this?

Dave Kaplan: There’s no room for another runway. The whole fourth runway thing is a myth. Okay? It’s not going to happen. When you’ve got a major freeway on one side, a major roadway on the other side, and all the runways are north-south — it’s not going to happen.

In terms of passengers — what’ll happen is, just as it is now, you’re going to wind up cramming that many more people through the same facility. The experience is going to deteriorate. Aircraft will wind up having to wait on taxiways. There won’t be an adequate number of gates. So unless they build another facility, that’s eventually what will happen.

Airlines have gotten more lean in their approach. They’ve upgraded their aircraft, which means they’re using larger aircraft that can hold more people. There were actually fewer flights last year than in 2019 by a significant amount, and yet we had a record number of passengers last year. The airlines find a way to move people. It may mean that they fly at different times as well. There are times where it’s not quite as busy, but again it depends on the business model the airlines have. They’re the ones who decide, based on demand from their customers, when they want to fly and where they need to go.

Any further questions?

Mayor Moore: Well, I also want to recognize, Dave, that you’re going to every city in the area giving this presentation. And that you’re hearing from all of us, and I see that you’re writing it down. I appreciate that. But this isn’t formal on-the-record, so it’s really important that whatever comments you do have, please share them through the website, at the public meetings, or by mail. I was going to invite you to stay after because I know there are people here who may be giving public comment about the airport, but I also wanted to let them know that their public comment is coming to the Burien City Council — and that this is not going to go into the SAMP record.

Dave Kaplan: Right. And I appreciate your gracious offer, but I actually have to head to Tukwila now. But thank you.

Mayor Moore: All right. Thank you.

And — will we be hearing back? You said you wouldn’t answer Council Member Mendes’s question right now. Is that answer forthcoming at a future time?

The question regarding providing financial assistance?

Dave Kaplan: Yes, there are conversations going on in other venues that I think are driven by legal challenges to the NEPA. Thank you.

City Manager Larson: Mayor, if I could interrupt for a minute — I’m going to ensure the questions the council asked tonight get into a file, and we’ll formally submit each of those questions to the Port of Seattle so they get into the record themselves.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. I appreciate that. And the city clerk will now announce public comment guidelines, and we will move into our public comment section.

City Clerk: Public comment guidelines are summarized on the screen and can be viewed in section five of the council rules of order. The deadline to sign up to speak or submit written comments for this meeting was 5:30 p.m. Community members may state their name and city of residence and speak for two minutes or less. The total time for the comment period is 30 minutes. At this time, staff will share the public comment sign-up list. For those in person, please speak at the lectern. For those on Zoom, please prepare to unmute yourself. There are 11 community members signed up to speak. The first person is Kelsey Vanhey.

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Kelsey Vanhey: Hi, council. Tonight’s agenda includes a discussion of a data center moratorium. I’m here to speak in strong support of this. In a community already impacted by flight path and highway noise and pollution, a hyperscale or other large data center would be yet another source of environmental harm, noise pollution, and strain on the power grid. However, this conversation should not stop at a data center moratorium. Banning these data centers and continuing to use or promote AI just says that we are fine inflicting these harms on other communities that we would not accept in our own. We need to pair this with a clear policy on responsible AI use that considers things like data privacy, ethical use of intellectual property, and at least tracks our own environmental impacts. Finally, Burien is proud to be part of a creative district that celebrates local arts and community. We should show that community respect by hiring real artists and graphic designers and not using AI graphics for tentpole events like our World Cup celebrations. I hope that you’ll consider requiring city contractors to stop using AI to avoid paying local artists. I do understand this is an additional cost and we’re in a budget-constrained environment, but I think it’s important that we respect local artisans. Thank you.

City Clerk: Thank you. Next we have Brian Davis.

Brian Davis: Mayor, council, Mr. Larson, good to see everybody. Brian Davis for the record. I’m from the Burien Airport Committee, but I’m speaking for myself tonight.

Thank you for your commitment to fighting the Port of Seattle’s proposal that will do additional and poorly compensated damage to Burien’s well-being, to our physical and mental health, and to our economic viability.

I’d like to call to your attention a petition for a public hearing on the port’s environmental impact statement. There is a provision for such a hearing under state law. If anybody present would care to sign that petition, I have one and I’ll be outside the building for a few minutes after the public comment period ends. We’ll have it on hand tomorrow when the Burien and Des Moines Airport Committees hold a joint meeting up on the third floor at city hall. That’ll be at 6:00 p.m. On Thursday, we’ll circulate the petition in two places — one is the air purifier giveaway here at city hall from 2 to 6:00 p.m., and then we’ll be at a community event Thursday night to help people get ready for the port’s upcoming open houses on the expansion plan. That will be at Glacier Middle School in SeaTac from 5:30 until 7:00. We’re hoping for some strong community turnout at these open houses and generally down the stretch in the process. Public comment closes on July 21st. The port’s proposal is deeply flawed. We would hope that they hear that from a lot of people.

The key point for me is that this is great for a lot of communities in the Seattle area which profit greatly from growth at Sea-Tac airport, but it is not okay for Burien, which receives very little of the benefit and a great deal of the harm.

I have a moment to make one other suggestion. It will not count as official comment, but the port commissioners need to hear directly from people who will be adversely affected by this proposal. When the review process ends, the commissioners — you heard Dave Kaplan say this — they will formally vote to approve these projects. I’ll remind you that they are elected public officials accountable to you as voters. You can get everybody’s names off the port’s website. Their email template is lastname.firstinitial@portseattle.org. They need to know that you expect them to do right by you. Thank you very much.

City Clerk: Our next speaker is Emily Enlood.

Emily Enlood: Hi. My name is Emily Enlood. I am also a member of the airport committee, but I’m speaking tonight as a resident of Burien. I listened tonight to the port’s presentation and I am left with more questions than answers. I would encourage everyone in our community to attend one of the public meetings and to participate in the port’s public process, demanding answers to some of those questions that were not answered tonight. The voices of those living every day with the impacts of the airport deserve to have our voices heard.

I’m also here tonight to ask the council to continue to ask the port to give the public 90 days to respond to the draft EIS. This is a highly technical document and we need more time to review and respond. Rushing this process undercuts the port’s purported commitment to equity.

Speaking of environmental impact — council has on their agenda tonight a possible moratorium on data centers. I do find it strange that the city would even consider trying to attract a data center to Burien, considering they have well-documented environmental impacts and questionable economic benefits. I also see that this would require economic development staff to delay other work that could be done to attract economic development that could benefit the city at a time when we are in a budget crisis. Please pass this moratorium. Thank you.

City Clerk: Thank you. Next we have Jennifer Ficchamba.

Jennifer Ficchamba: Sorry. Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, and council. I’m Jennifer Ficchamba, and I actually live right next to SR-509 and watch planes take off every day. I first want to say thank you for all the work that has gone into hosting Summer of Soccer in Burien. My son and I watched Brazil on Saturday and our beloved Ecuador yesterday. Sadly they lost. My son also is a recipient — someone who participated in Rave Foundation activities. The whole reason he majored in communications is thanks to the Rave Foundation. I want to give a huge shout-out to Jose, who was the MC of both days that we came.

I also want to encourage council to place a moratorium on data centers. They are a massive environmental problem. I have read so many devastating stories on the impact to our drinking water. We don’t need AI to create flyers, but we do need clean water to live.

Finally, I want to say I appreciate the comments from Council Member Mendes, Deputy Mayor Garcia, Council Member Devito, and Mayor Moore pushing back on the port and their lack of answers — or vague answers — to some of the questions. It speaks volumes to really how the port cares about Burien. When I was in eighth grade, my friend Heidi McDougall’s house was bought by the port so they could expand. They will just buy our property and expand. I’ve witnessed it in my lifetime. I appreciate your request for an extension to the community comment period to 90 days. It’s really important that we keep our community in mind regarding data centers and expansion of the airport. Thank you so much.

City Clerk: Thank you. Next we have Stephen Lampir on Zoom, virtually.

Stephen Lampir: Good evening. I’m Stephen Lampir and I am a resident of the Upper Shorewood neighborhood. I have a comment on the data center proposal. I too am in favor of moving forward with a moratorium. And I’d like to point out a good reason for doing so — there was a community recently where the city council decided to go for a data center and the public didn’t like it. They went ahead and recalled every single member of the city council and moved on from there. So I’d like you to know that if you decide to invite a data center, you have the possibility that there will be repercussions from the public. Thank you.

City Clerk: Thank you. Next we have Omaha Sternberg.

Omaha Sternberg: Thank you. My name is Omaha Sternberg and I live in Burien. Thank you very much, council, for hearing my comments. I have three today.

The first one is about the data centers. Many people have already commented in a way that I agree with. But the information available is so vast that we cannot make a decision about it in one council meeting. So I think a six-month moratorium is a very good idea in order to understand exactly what the issue is.

The second one is about the discussion of a possible levy. Even though I was against the levy last year, I was against it because of a lack of transparency and unclear language. I am still in favor of a levy to help us with our budget problems, and I would like to see more transparency and clearer language in a future levy.

Last but not least, I wanted to comment on the SEPA. Dave Kaplan did mention there was no significant impact on animals and plants in that review. Unfortunately, when I took a quick look at it, I found nothing about coho salmon. As an oceanographer, I know that coho salmon are an endangered species and are killed within three hours of being exposed to particulate matter from rubber tires of vehicles. If we are going to increase the amount of traffic that comes in, we will increase that particulate matter and increase the amount of damage and death done to the coho salmon, possibly even putting them at risk of extinction. So I’m very happy to ask you to seriously think about this more. Thank you very much.

City Clerk: Thank you. Next we have Janelle Lee, virtually.

Janelle Lee: Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Good evening, Madame Mayor, council members, city staff, and fellow neighbors affected by the Sustainable Airport Master Plan near-term projects and the draft SEPA EIS presentation.

First, I want to say thank you and second everything in the comments from Kelsey Vanhey, Brian Davis, and the rest of the commenters. I also want to thank our mayor for your work at the airport committee, and all the incredibly thoughtful questions, comments, and concerns from the council tonight. You understand this assignment. Thank you.

My name is Janelle. I’m speaking tonight as one of the Boulevard Park Burien residents who live directly underneath the flight path. For us, this isn’t an abstract policy discussion. It’s a daily physical toll. We’re looking at a projected 30% increase in flights over the next decade. Yet it seems that the port’s environmental review is not understanding the significant impact it will have on us here in Burien beneath the flight path — fundamentally disconnecting from reality. Studies consistently show that noise and ultrafine particle pollution under those flight paths shortens life expectancy and damages cardiovascular health. Our lives are quite literally being cut short right now.

Our basic and existing protections are failing. Many of us have port-package sound mitigation windows that are failing, degrading, and letting noise bleed straight into our homes. I personally have not heard of any clear timeline, budget, or guarantee on when or if these will be replaced. If the port cannot fix the broken mitigation packages we have now, how can anyone justify adding 30% more flights?

We cannot just accept that these flights will increase with or without construction. We need our city council to fight for legally binding, enforceable protections. We need an immediate funded plan to replace failing sound insulation, real-time air quality monitoring in our neighborhoods, and if possible a refusal to sign off on any expansion until our port takes measurable accountability for our health. Please do not let Boulevard Park be treated as a sacrifice zone. The growth of Puget Sound cannot be on the backs of Burien residents. Hold the port accountable. Thank you.

City Clerk: Thank you. Next we have Chuck Wrangler.

Chuck Wrangler: Thanks. My name is Chuck Wrangler. I’m here representing the Burien American Legion Post 134, originally organized in 1938 — I guess that’s longer than any of you have been alive.

I’m here for two reasons. One of them is we’re going to be doing the color guard for the Burien Fourth of July parade, the 250-year celebration of our nation. I would like to have that flag and all of the armed services flags precede the parade. In past years recently, we’ve had a motorcycle group precede the parade. As a veteran, I am disgusted with that. I will be carrying that flag, and anything that stops the march of the American flag should be run over. I am asking the council — I’ve already talked to Debbie over at Discover Burien, and she’s going to talk to the motorcycle group. I want the American flag to lead the American July 4th parade.

The second thing I wanted to bring up is that the National Organization of the American Legion has passed a resolution calling for federal, state, and local governments as well as school boards and educational institutions to adopt and enforce rigorous standards in civic education, ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the U.S. Constitution, the separation of powers, civil liberties, civic duties, and the responsibilities of self-government in a free society. To that end, the national organization has an oratorical contest nationally — the winner gets a $30,000 scholarship. It’s only for high school students, private or public. Burien will be having one in 2027 with a $5,000 scholarship for any of our local students here.

Mayor Moore: Sorry, we’re at time. Can you send us that information?

Chuck Wrangler: Thank you.

City Clerk: Next we have Kirsten Cooper.

Kirsten Cooper: Thanks. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Kirsten Cooper and I am a resident of North Burien, and I work outdoors at a site that is directly under the flight path in North SeaTac. I am also here to ask that the city council advocate for the Port of Seattle to grant at least a 90-day public comment period for the draft EIS. Because this is a highly technical and complex document, our community needs adequate time to thoroughly review it and prepare meaningful responses. Thank you for your time and consideration.

City Clerk: Thank you. Next we have Lena Pace.

Lena Pace: Good evening. This message was intended to be for both council and your guest who has departed to Tukwila. So I’ll try and be brief and attempt to send what I have to say separately.

I want to echo what somebody said earlier about the coho salmon and highlight that there’s an aquifer beneath the land that residents affected by the flight path live over — and that attempting to keep the recharge area of the aquifer that all of King County may depend on someday may further funnel that tire runoff into a stream that is currently being mapped. That’s a problem.

I have lived under the flight path since 2019. I experienced the peace of less flight traffic during the pandemic and acclimated to the heightened traffic over time. I am grateful for every moment I am not conscious of an airplane overhead and enjoy the quiet nights — relatively quiet. I work in public transportation and am federally required to restrict my working hours so as to ensure I get adequate rest. I tolerate the noise because it’s a trade-off for stable housing and I’ve experienced far worse disruption to my sleep. That said, the existing noise pollution is objectively impactful and a 30% increased flight traffic is a lot. It’s too much. I keep hearing that there’s nothing to avoid the 30% influx. I call now the time to brainstorm. Find another place for another airport, for example. Nobody wants it, but it can’t be adding it into the existing three runways, increasing the traffic there where people are already affected, where their health has already been impacted. Yeah, that’s it.

City Clerk: Thank you. And our last speaker is Quinton Thompson.

Quinton Thompson: Good evening, council members and good evening, audience. I would like to say that I am back for the summer and the first part of September, and maybe going on further. So you will be seeing me more.

I noticed that we’ve been having some problems with our Metro Access buses again on 152nd. That corner where it intersects there, that is very dangerous. However, I’ve been working with Metro to figure that out and that’s becoming a really big problem. I’m kind of disturbed because that area where I’m telling you it’s intersecting right there — that’s where a lot of our buses are getting hit. Thank you very much.

Mayor Moore: Thank you, Quinton. That concludes our public comment and we move into committee reports. Do any council members have committee reports?

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Deputy Mayor Garcia: Actually, I was going to relay this to you, Mayor Moore. I know we participated in the SEAPIC committee meeting. I arrived late, so I just wanted to have you give the update.

Mayor Moore: Thank you, Deputy Mayor Garcia.

I have a Public Board of Health meeting this Thursday, so I don’t have one to report from the last one. I’ve also been added to the SCA South Cities Association equity group. I’ll plan on reporting on future meetings for that. And for an internal committee — the immigrant support three-council-member subcommittee — I’ve circulated some policy ideas on a sanctuary ordinance to council members and hope to have something brought forward at the next council meeting as a recommendation. That’s all.

Mayor Moore: I can report briefly on the SEAPIC meeting. It was a chaotic situation in which it overlapped with the state-of-the-county report from the county executive. Everyone was either pushing through people going in the other direction to meet in a room — which was my situation — or going to listen to it somewhere else.

Issues that were covered: as Deputy Mayor Garcia pointed out, the nominating committee did fill seats, including appointing Deputy Mayor Garcia to the health board. I’m a member of the water quality committee, and I’ve talked extensively about increasing sewer rates, but solid waste division rates are also anticipated to increase by 8.5% annually across fee types. The SEAPIC is concerned about that continuing rate increase, especially in the context of other utilities, and is submitting a letter of concern that is currently being drafted.

There was also a discussion — not specifically relevant to Burien but relevant to all cities in the committee because it’s about coordinating — around the flood response to the December 2025 flooding: what would have worked better and what worked really well. One of the key feedbacks was that communication was coming from too many directions at once and crossing each other. The SCA feels like it may have a role in determining a single channel for emergency communications of that type.

SEAPIC also took a position on the county transportation committee’s 12.5% pass-through of road levies to cities from monies levied to King County. The position was: if you’re going to pass this, cities would like the 12.5% pass-through — and that did pass. However, there was a request for a cap of 15% on any one city, and that did not pass.

I also wanted to report that the Burien Airport Committee and Des Moines Airport Committee hosted a joint committee meeting on June 8th and will host another one tomorrow, June 16th. Tomorrow’s meeting will be hosted upstairs in Burien City Hall. The June 8th one was hosted in Des Moines in their council chambers. This was to discuss coordinated responses to the SAMP SEPA process. One topic that came up — and city manager, is this an appropriate time to talk about the possibility of a public hearing?

City Manager Larson: Yes, it is. Go ahead, you’re doing well.

Mayor Moore: We heard from Brian Davis during public comment mentioning a petition that the public can submit. But another way to request a public hearing is for two impacted municipalities to submit a request for a public hearing. The timeline is very short — it’s within 30 days of the initial release of the SEPA. I believe it’s coming up this week, actually — before our next council meeting.

So I would like to see if there is support from council to request a public hearing.

There is support from council to request a public hearing. In order for this to happen, another affected municipality would also have to make that request. But I thank council for their strong and immediate response to that.

City Manager Larson: If I could add to that, Mayor — I will endeavor to make sure the Port of Seattle gets your request in formal writing. I’ll get that out tomorrow.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. And with that we go into council reports. Council Member Andrade.

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Council Member Andrade: Thank you. We had our flag raising for our Burien fan zone. Pretty fun. Great to see everybody come out to view that. I do want to thank staff members Chris, Lorraine, Deborah, George at Discover Burien, and the other staff members who’ve been working on this for so long and very hard. So burienfanzone.com if you want additional information for additional games.

I also attended Stormfest for a second year in a row. It’s always fun to see the students learning outside, getting hands-on experience with environmental education. I heard from a couple of the teachers that it’s a great time frame for them to have this outdoors, given that towards the end of the school year students start to get a little antsy.

June 4th — I was honored to participate in our Pride flag raising as an out elected official. That flag raising was pretty special for me. I went from going to prom with queer friends who were kicked out by chaperones who said we were making a scene — to standing in front of city hall raising a pride flag as an elected official. It was great that it was our 10-year anniversary. Something I would have never imagined being a part of. Then followed the three-day pride celebration. Unfortunately we had monsoon rain at one point, but we still had great participation. Not every city has that — I spoke to an individual in Federal Way who let me know they were not going to be bringing some of those events in the same way that we have. We had three ways of recognizing and honoring that. We’re very fortunate to live in a city that’s open to all of that. Thank you, City of Burien and all of city council.

Several of us attended the King County State of the County event with King County Executive Dow Constantine. It’s great to hear about the work happening across the county and reconnect with other elected officials and community leaders. There were a few speakers including Mayor Jim Ferrell, Mayor Dana Ralph. But the one that stood out in my mind was a young man by the name of Sam from Speak with Purpose. His message was beautiful. Young people aren’t just our future — and if this person is part of our future, I am very hopeful and I’m glad to have him be a part of our future.

We also celebrated a ribbon cutting ceremony for Alfair Antiques as they expanded their space to include now a beer garden. Beautiful day for a beer garden — everybody go enjoy, on 152nd down the street.

And finally, I attended the Flag Day ceremony at the Burien Elks Lodge. As we approach the 250th anniversary of our country, it was great to hear more about the history of our flag and reflect on what it represents to the many people.

And then one last comment — this weekend we have the annual Strawberry Festival and Father’s Day car show. Hope to see you there.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. Any other council reports?

Deputy Mayor Garcia: Thanks, Mayor. It’s been a busy time period. We had a very fun and successful Burien Copita kids tournament on June 6th. Just want to thank our staff, who did a fantastic job collaborating with the Latino Civic Alliance in putting together six youth soccer teams in a tournament that included vendors, businesses, nonprofits — the school district was there, over 20 vendors. They had a youth group do a performance. It was just really well attended. So just want to say thanks. It was a fantastic event at Highline High School stadium. And want to share thanks and appreciation to the Highline School District because they made sure we had access to their audio speaker system, which made a huge difference in being able to inform folks about all the different programs and vendors and give people excited updates about the games.

Attended the Pride flag raising event and ceremony. Also went to the regional gun safety office gun lock box giveaway. We held that here next to the library. The giveaway got up to about a hundred gun lock boxes. They shared that over the last two to three years, gun violence has decreased regionally by around 18%. But there is still an issue — about one in three households with a gun doesn’t have a gun safe. So it’s still something critical. I attended the state of the county presentation, and one of the key things that stuck with me is that the executive mentioned they were going to invest an additional $5 million toward the regional gun safety office for these programs, which I think is fantastic. The number one leading cause of death for our youth is gun violence.

I also went to a new Samoan restaurant — I went to a private event at a Samoan restaurant on First Avenue at the Maui Center. If you’ve never tried Polynesian food, highly recommend it. Check it out.

I did want to report that there are still active ICE kidnappings of our residents. Three in the last two weeks have been confirmed here in Burien streets. And today I communicated with a parent volunteer at a PTA for Hazel Valley who shared that a Hazel Valley family had their dad taken, and the parents and the PTA are working together to help the family with food assistance and rent assistance, as this happened just a week ago.

Oh sorry — I did attend our Burien soccer celebration flag race. Fantastic event. It had the kickoff of the soccer tournament on Thursday here next to the library, which overlapped with our farmers market. Fantastic. It is great to hear the joy of kids playing, especially when we are going through some challenging times. And then Sunday, we went to the one they held at the end of the street here on 152nd — closed off part of it, had this screen in the middle of the street. Folks were sitting out, restaurants had tables out. It’s been just really great. Thanks to the economic development staff — I saw you guys over the weekend at a lot of these events. You guys have been doing a really good job. Thank you.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. Other council reports? I can give a little bit of a report.

I heartily concur with Council Member Andrade’s evaluation of the speakers at the state of the county event. Just hearing a young person find their feet under them — starting out not quite sure and then just nailing it, just getting there. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

I also want to mention I went to a discussion of the port budget on Friday the 12th and was fortunate enough to share a table with Casey, who spoke very eloquently really about what budgets look like everywhere. City budgets have very limited ways they can draw revenue, a lot of responsibilities and obligations — and we’re all kind of looking at that right now. The port in a lot of ways had its ups and downs and is also at the mercy of the greater world around us.

I am not obsessed with airports, but I did want to let people know that Glacier Middle School on June 17th is having a session hosted by No Added Harm — a community power night from 5:30 to 7, to discuss and build narrative for telling our stories at the port listening sessions. This is going to be both about developing a personal story about airport impacts and an opportunity to talk about what priorities might be most helpful and important to bring up in those situations.

And I also want to mention that there will be an air purifier giveaway here at council chambers on Thursday, June 18th from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

And that’s my report.

City Manager Larson: Thank you, Mayor. Council members, I want to remind the community that there is currently a vacant seat on the city council and as of this afternoon, we have not received any applications. The deadline to apply for the position is Friday, June 26th. An application form is available on the city’s website, or you can get a hard copy by picking it up at city hall at the front counter. If you need assistance, just call us — staff will be delighted to help you obtain an application. We can even mail it out to you. The phone number for city hall is 206-241-4647. Thank you.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. And that gets us to the consent agenda. Or actually — are there any questions?

No question. Just to say thank you, Quinton. That gets us to the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

[Unknown]: So moved.

[Unknown]: Second.

Mayor Moore: We have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. All those in favor, please raise your hand or say I. It is unanimous. The consent agenda is approved and we move to the business agenda. Our first item will be an introduction to resolution number 535 approving the South King Housing and Homelessness Partnership — or SKIP — 2027 budget and work plan.

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Ana Zupansic (Human Services Manager): Good evening, council. Great to be with you all tonight. It’s warm outside and freezing in here, so we’ll try to be speedy. I’m Ana Zupansic, your human services manager. We’re here tonight to talk about resolution number 535, about SKIP. South King Housing and Homelessness Partners is lovingly referred to as SKIP. We’re here to talk about the 2027 work plan and budget. Liz Steed and I get the opportunity to serve on SKIP’s executive board and staff working group respectively, and have the joy of working with partners across the region to advance SKIP’s work plan and mission. And part of that is being supported by the incredible SKIP staff. We are joined tonight by Dorsa Plants, who I’m going to turn over to, to give you some more context about what is included in resolution 535.

Dorsa Plants (Acting Executive Manager, SKIP): Good evening, council and residents of Burien. My name is Dorsa Plants — I use he/him pronouns — and I’m the acting executive manager for the South King Housing and Homelessness Partners, or SKIP for short. I’m really excited this evening to present the SKIP executive board’s recommended 2027 work plan and budget, which I believe can be found in your agenda packet starting around page 43. This is an annual process required by our interlocal agreement, but it also provides an opportunity to share some of the great work that SKIP will be doing in 2027.

For those of you who are new to our work, SKIP is your subregional affordable housing consortium formed in 2019 and made up of 11 South King County cities, including Burien, and King County. We are a unified, coordinated, and collaborative coalition funding the construction and preservation of affordable housing right here in South King County. In addition to supporting the subregion’s work and cross-jurisdictional collaboration, this is a meaningful opportunity to work together with neighboring cities to make an impact on the subregion’s affordable housing shortage. To date, we have pooled over $18 million to fund the construction or rehabilitation of multifamily buildings here in South King County.

The SKIP interlocal agreement requires that the legislative bodies of each of the SKIP member jurisdictions take action and adopt the SKIP executive board’s approved work plan and budget before it becomes effective in the following year.

Just a little bit on the development of the work plan and budget: it reflects the goals and priorities of the SKIP executive board and incorporates the review and feedback of the SKIP community advisory board, the staff working group, and the SOKIO long-range planners group. The advisory board is made up of community members from South King County along with housing experts. Our staff working group and SOKIO group are made up of staff from each of the member jurisdictions that provide guidance to SKIP. In January, SKIP staff administered a survey to the executive board and used that to develop a draft that was further reviewed by the community advisory board and the staff working group. That draft was then reviewed at our March workshop and further refined. The work plan and budget was adopted on May 15th by the executive board.

The four goals of the SKIP work plan remain the same in 2027 as in 2026. They include funding the expansion and preservation of affordable housing, developing policies to expand and preserve affordable housing, serving as an advocate for South King County, and managing the operations and administration of SKIP. Each goal has corresponding actions that support the work of that goal. Most of the goals you’ll see in the work plan are continuing work from previous years. In addition to the corresponding actions, each goal also has an indicator that we use to measure progress. Those indicators are used in the annual report that SKIP issues each year.

This table shows the state’s Office of Financial Management population data through 2025 by each member jurisdiction. Just a quick note that the population data for King County includes all of unincorporated King County, not just South King County, so it is a little higher than what we see inside the South King County area. You may recall that SKIP’s operating budget is funded solely from member contributions, which are based on population tiers. For the 2027 budget, we used the 2025 population data to establish those tiers because the 2026 population data won’t be published until the end of June. No member jurisdictions will be changing population tiers this year, but we did continue to see population growth in South King County.

The 2027 SKIP operating budget totals $525,000. 68% of SKIP’s expenses go toward the salary and benefits of its two full-time staff. While the total budget did increase by approximately $23,000, that growth was driven exclusively by cost-of-living adjustments for personnel or IT support. There is nearly a 22% decrease in professional services, which reflects a deliberate shift toward building internal capacity and reducing reliance on external vendors. Professional services include items like our advisory board compensation, our contract attorney expenses for the housing capital fund awardees, our third-party application reviews for the housing capital fund, along with professional development, travel, and other fees or licenses required for the administration of SKIP.

Another thing to note is that SKIP does continue to spend down previous cost savings and a fund balance to mitigate any additional member contribution increases. And in 2025, the SKIP executive board adopted a reserve policy to set aside interest earned on the housing capital fund contributions prior to being distributed to the awardees. Interest earned in 2025 to be applied to the reserve in 2027 is a total of $544,744. This means that the total reserve in 2027 will include $1,260,983. These funds would be used in future years to assist if there’s an economic recession or if member cities were to choose not to raise operational contributions.

The SKIP executive board is recommending we maintain contributions at the 2026 level. I do want to note that part of our work in 2027 will include exploring opportunities to expand our capacity or look at the growth of SKIP over the next five years. So it is likely that in preparation for the 2028 budget, we will need to talk about increasing operational contributions. We’re saying that now because SKIP is making a firm commitment that we will have extensive conversations with each of the member cities before doing any further raises to operational contributions.

In conclusion, per the requirements of the interlocal agreement between Burien and SKIP, SKIP is seeking your support this evening to adopt the 2027 work plan and the 2027 operating budget. And with that, I’d be happy to answer any questions.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. Council, there is a recommended motion.

Council Member Schilling: Council members, I move to place this item on the consent agenda of the next regular meeting.

[Unknown]: Second.

Mayor Moore: It’s been moved and seconded to place this item on the consent agenda for the next regular meeting. Any discussion?

Deputy Mayor Garcia: I just wanted to see if you could share a little bit into any potential impacts from the regional housing authority going through some transition. We did hear about that transition from the King County executive at the state of the county, but I just wanted to hear directly from you for general awareness — will there be any potential impact?

Dorsa Plants: It’s a question that’s come up at several of the presentations. SKIP does not have a direct relationship with KCHA in the sense that we have direct projects that we’re tied together on. I do maintain a working relationship with KCHA as part of serving as an advocate for South King County. I don’t anticipate any direct implications toward SKIP directly. Some of the projects we fund will have some questions. One we’re working through with other public funders is that KCHA has historically been used to fulfill a requirement for a lot of public funders — a requirement that a local body verify that the project is consistent with the local homelessness plans. The regional homeless authority has for the last few years served as that body. As of a couple days ago, it’s my understanding that they’re still going to serve that role for the SKIP capital fund this year. So that’s probably the most direct impact.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. Glad you asked. Other questions? Well, I don’t have any questions either, which means that was a good presentation. Getting to know SKIP over the last few years and watching construction come into place that may not have been possible without SKIP has been really eyeopening and gratifying. So thank you very much for the work that you do.

Dorsa Plants: And yeah, if I could just share one interesting fact — we’ve been doing our capital fund since 2022. The City of Burien has had a project apply every year since we started our housing capital fund, and potentially that will continue through this year.

Mayor Moore: All right, good to hear. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded to place this item on the consent agenda at the next regular meeting. All those in favor, please raise your hand or say I. Everybody — it is unanimous. It will be on our consent agenda for next week. Thank you.

How’s council doing? Do people want a five-minute break?

[Five-minute break.]

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Mayor Moore: The meeting is reconvened at 7:35 p.m. Our next topic is discussion of budget amendment ordinance number 9004, in order to close out federal forfeiture funds and turn over balances to the King County Sheriff’s Office.

[Finance/Budget staff — name unclear]: Thank you, Mayor and Council. I’m combining my next two agenda bill items on one ordinance number for the budget amendment, but I wanted to separate the issues as they’re completely different.

In May of 2026, we received a phone call from the Department of Justice regarding federal forfeiture turnover funds that Burien has historically received for confiscated cash from drug busts and federally related activities. These funds are highly restricted in how they can be used, and Burien’s been collecting them and working with our local department on using it for training or equipment or devices needed for drug trafficking and that type of work.

The Department of Justice just realized that we were a contract city — along with Shoreline and SeaTac. So they pulled a meeting together with the King County Sheriff’s Department, Shoreline, SeaTac, and Burien in May and discussed those funds. They indicated that in 2018, other states that have contract city police departments made a determination that only the police departments themselves should get those funds directly and work in conjunction with the city they contract with to spend those funds out. But at the end of the day, as long as those funds are spent within the bounds of the federal regulations and uniform guidance, they’re happy — provided the funds are going directly to the sheriff’s department.

We had this meeting with Tom and his team and Jason King from the King County Sheriff’s Department, the chief budget officer there. He said he will work with the cities to find a tracking mechanism for the funds directly related to work done in Burien with the Burien PD, and work at tracking how those expenses go out. So the goal is to have the current process, but just through the King County Department instead of directly through Burien. Hopefully we’ll be able to work something out that will give us a say in how that money gets used for our local department.

They requested that once we finalize all of the expenses we have going out of there for this year, we need to turn over the remaining funds to King County and close out those two funds — the federal drug enforcement forfeiture fund and the federal criminal forfeiture fund. It’s about $143,000 in total that we’ll be turning over to them to manage.

Any questions on that?

Mayor Moore: I was going to ask if we could pause for questions between the two issues and then make a motion after both.

Any questions on this portion?

[Council member, name unclear]: Your explanation clarified the question I had, which is — are we losing the money or is it being administered?

Staff: It’ll just be administered through King County.

Staff: The second surprise we received recently — the State of Washington reached out to me. They indicated that in real estate transactions, REET is often collected by the county through title and escrow. The transactions may not necessarily be a sale but maybe a transfer of property of some sort, or the commercial agency may request an audit of the transaction. Sometimes in these instances, the state will perform the audit and refund the corporate entities.

They discovered there’s about $171,926 in transactions that were reimbursed — one dated back to 2022 and one in 2023. They had recouped some of it through another form of audit, about $167,000. Because it’s taking a long time to recoup the full $172,000, they were requesting that we just reimburse them for those overpayments or refunds. I said okay, we just have to do a budget amendment since we don’t have anything budgeted for that. This money goes into our public works capital projects fund — all of our REET money goes in there and then it gets transferred over to the capital reserve fund, and those funds once collected are typically budgeted to go to capital projects for public works. So we had to increase the budget for that fund by $172,000 to reimburse the state for those refunded amounts. Any questions on that?

Mayor Moore: Any questions?

Council Member Schilling: I move to place budget amendment ordinance number 9004 on the consent agenda of the next regular meeting.

[Unknown]: Second.

Mayor Moore: It’s been moved and seconded to place budget amendment ordinance number 9004 on the consent agenda at the next regular meeting. Any discussion?

[Unknown]: No additional questions. Good to do the house cleaning and make it official.

[Unknown]: Thank you for keeping us in compliance.

Mayor Moore: All those in favor, please raise your hand or say I. We have unanimous consent. So it will be placed on the consent agenda.

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Mayor Moore: And the next item is discussion of a possible data center moratorium.

[Staff member — name unclear]: Good evening, Mayor Moore, Deputy Mayor Garcia, council members, thank you for having us here. I have been working with both Anmarie, city attorney, and Chris Craig, the economic development manager, to start looking at a request that the council made at your last meeting — to come back and talk about a potential data center moratorium, to provide staff time and capacity to learn more about the issue and what may or may not be something that the city would want to enter into.

We’re going to talk about three things. One — what are the existing regulations in the land use code that may potentially allow for the siting of a data center at this time? The zoning code allows for the idea that there’s a use that wasn’t thought of previously that may come in and ask if it can be sited in a certain location. One example that has happened in the past was doggy daycare — nobody had thought of a doggy daycare, so there was no line item for doggy daycare. The code provides some general allowances for the director to make some decisions if a use is not specified.

In our code, data centers as a use are not specified in any of our zoning districts. So since we don’t have that specified, there are two potential opportunities for us to look at it. In most of the city, the decision would be made by the director of the community development department — that case being me. And how I would make that decision is by looking at different criteria: is this consistent with what’s around it? Is there going to be an impact? Is there something else in this zone that’s allowed that has very consistent impacts? Things like hours of business, the amount of people coming in and out — all of that goes into any decision that’s made.

The industrial zoning district has a different qualification — in that case you actually have to go to a hearing examiner who makes the decision. The director would make a recommendation to the hearing examiner and the hearing examiner would then decide, using essentially similar criteria.

No one has approached us to date about a data center. We have not had any inquiries. Nobody has come in for a pre-application meeting or anything like that. But I just did want to let you know that there is a feasible path potentially to a data center in the code today. So if the council’s real desire is to close any path to siting a data center at this time, the option we wanted to talk about is a moratorium.

Anmarie [City Attorney]: If the city council is so inclined to adopt a moratorium, this would be a way to basically pause any acceptance, processing, review, or approval of any application for data centers. There are some procedures that you would have to follow. First of all, you have to have a public hearing within 60 days of the moratorium adoption. In your moratorium ordinance, you can actually designate when the public hearing would occur. You could also have the public hearing at the same time as you adopt the moratorium. If you’re having the public hearing after adoption, then you just need to make sure that you adopt additional findings to support the continuation of the moratorium.

Moratoriums are generally for six months. However, the city council could decide to have a moratorium of up to one year, so long as you have a provision for a work plan — to have studies completed that necessitate that longer period of time. After you get close to the expiration, you can extend the moratorium — you simply need to have another public hearing and adopt additional findings to support the continuation. Happy to answer any other questions.

[Staff — Community Development Director]: We also have Chris Craig from economic development, because we understood that one of the things the council had thought about was having the economic development commission look at some of the options for potentially siting data centers and what’s in it for the city — is it good, is it bad, what are those impacts? So recognizing that they have some skill sets but probably not the same area around writing code and creating use definitions, we thought it would be important to work together — community development and economic development — and of course legal. Chris is going to talk to you a little bit about some of the things we think we would go about studying and analyzing if you provide direction to move forward.

Chris Craig (Economic Development Manager): Sure. Thank you. Some of the things we workshopped as areas we would want to bring back information on — in terms of the benefits of a data center — would include things like economic benefits: job creation, including permanent jobs, construction jobs, indirect jobs, induced jobs; property tax revenue; sales tax revenue; B&O tax revenue; utility tax revenue; and also in the economic growth scenario, complimentary or other types of IT businesses that might co-locate with development like this.

We’d also need to look at infrastructure impacts — water availability to residents and the availability our several water districts in Burien have. Also the electrical grid and its capabilities to support a data center, and impact to residents. Also stormwater infrastructure impacts. Environmental conditions like noise levels and air quality impacts or emissions. And then land use — is this type of development the best use of the land, incorporating the economic activity we might see per acre? And then, importantly, compatibility with existing land uses. Are the surrounding uses compatible with this type of development?

We had a very initial preliminary discussion with the BDP this past Friday. They brought up some of these similar areas of study. If you have input on what we should study that you don’t see on that list, that would be great. But these would be the areas we thought would be important to check the boxes on if we were to bring back information for any permanent decision.

[Staff — Community Development Director]: And really we’re hoping to get some direction from council on a couple of issues — one is if you wish to move forward with the moratorium and how long; and more information on the scope of what analysis you would be anticipating coming back on. Thank you.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. And you put that together very fast. I’m impressed. Council Member Schilling, you had a question.

Council Member Schilling: Thank you to you both. I think this is in line with what the council initially talked about when we asked — does this work for this community, and what size if it did? And if it doesn’t, tell us it doesn’t. Being smart about this is better than being reactive and loud and not thoughtful. These things already exist. If you pull out your Google Maps app right now and type in “data centers near me” — there’s an entire SAB data center complex right off of Military Road in North Burien. There’s a couple in Kent. They’re already here. If they didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be doing everything we’re doing right now.

So I want us to be smarter about this than just flatly saying absolutely not about whatever. I mean, if you come back to us and say it doesn’t work here, great. But I want to have a conversation about it and develop something smart so that we’re actually living in the world we’re living in. I’m excited for whenever that comes back to us, however long that takes. I don’t know if we necessarily need a moratorium based on what you said, Liz. It sounds like it might be a little more legally burdensome than not. But happy to have that discussion.

[Community Development Director]: I think that regarding whether we need one or not — if we want to fully close the door until we know how we want to pursue this, a moratorium is the best option. If we’re willing to roll the dice and see what happens, then probably no moratorium. Data centers, as you were mentioning, Council Member Schilling, are all different scales. One could be a two-story building. One could look like an office building. The only way we could 100% confirm that there would not be any siting until we’ve done this research is to put the moratorium in place.

Anmarie: And just to follow up on what Liz just said — when you’re looking at how you would want to regulate data centers, if that’s what the council wants to do, the moratorium would give you time to figure that out. Not just whether you want them or not, or where they can be located or not, but also how they could be located in the city — if there are size limitations or other limitations the city might want to put on these types of uses. This is your opportunity to have a more thoughtful and planned-out discussion. And you can take the time to do that without risking that someone might come in and submit an application and you don’t have anything in place. Or if you’re comfortable with the regulations you already have, that is also fine. It’s just something to keep in mind — if you want to place additional restrictions or regulations on data centers, you don’t currently have that in your code. So it would really be that case-by-case situation that Liz talked about for siting unspecified uses.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. I think it’s a really smart, thoughtful recommendation — to do two things at the same time: having a moratorium in place for the moment because we don’t have any regulations that specify what we think about this type of structure or activity in the city, and how we want to regulate it; then during that time frame having the conversations internally and with council and with commissions about how we do want to actually regulate it, and then having something in place. It’s a very smart dual path. Thank you.

I saw Council Member Mendes’s hand first, then Deputy Mayor Garcia.

Council Member Mendes: Thank you for the presentation, especially given the timing. I first just want to echo the approach that’s been discussed — giving the city time to have a discussion and get information, particularly to the public. Some of this is research I haven’t done that much detail on myself about potential environmental impacts. I’m also just interested in comparing those environmental impacts to other sectors and potential uses, because everything humans do has an environmental impact — certainly things like airports. Which is not to dismiss the very real environmental impacts that data centers have.

I want to be really sensitive to the public opposition right now. I did a quick search — there was a Gallup poll in March of this year, and fully 71% of folks polled were opposed to AI data centers, with 48% strongly opposed. This cuts across political parties. So it’s a very sensitive issue and I think we’re aware of that.

My question just comes from my general lack of experience with land use. What are the potential risks of the case-by-case approach? What happens when an application is submitted for something that turns out to be quite sensitive — it could be a nuclear waste dump site, it could be anything controversial? Are there legal risks of the city somewhat arbitrarily turning it down because there’s public backlash?

[Community Development Director]: One of the risks if we don’t have any regulations is that we don’t have any ability to control how the use gets set into a community. A lot of what we talk about are setbacks, or landscaping barriers, or the right height — none of those exist in that case either. They have to meet the underlying zoning regulations, but you couldn’t have additional, potentially — for the nuclear waste reactor, you’d probably want a pretty wide swath of area. We wouldn’t have thought that through and provided guidance in the code as to what’s acceptable for this type of use. I’ll pass the question about the legality of not allowing a use to Anmarie.

Anmarie: There is criteria outlined in the code for siting unspecified uses, and that would allow you to deny an application for being inconsistent with your comprehensive plan or incompatible with the zone and the intent of the zone. However, if they otherwise meet the criteria, then the city should approve that use — because to do otherwise would be arbitrary and could run the risk of legal challenge. That’s again why you wouldn’t want to just say, “This is a landfill, we don’t want a landfill here” — if it’s not consistent with the zone and the comp plan, then you can say that. But if it does actually fit in the zone and we just don’t want it, that’s not really going to be sufficient. So again, I would recommend having really clear criteria as to when you would or wouldn’t allow something. You have criteria already in your code for citing unspecified uses, but it’s not robust criteria for any particular type of use.

Deputy Mayor Garcia: Thank you for that feedback and those questions. This is good dialogue. I just had a question — the current potential route of having one of these sited is through a hearing examiner. Is there any point where we as a council would have any touchpoint in the current process?

[Community Development Director]: The hearing examiner would only get involved if it’s in the industrial zoning district. If the hearing examiner made a decision, that would be appealable to the city council. So that would be the only point where the council would potentially get involved.

Deputy Mayor Garcia: Thanks. I’ll just share a comment. I am in support of a 12-month moratorium currently, based on so much information and so much going on. I definitely understand both sides — the economic impact, but also the environmental and social challenge. The pope has even weighed in on this recently. I did want to suggest that congruent to this potential moratorium we also look into any sort of future policy the city will establish as a guide for our own internal use of AI. Recently we had an investment firm and I asked them how they’re using AI. I think it’s fair that we also, if we’re going to study the potential viability of any data centers, start to look into our own internal AI usage. My initial thinking on the 12 months is based on general economic conditions, how long things would take, the situation internationally with everything from tariffs to the recent agreement by the president. 12 months seems very appropriate and gives staff adequate time to do some research too. That’s just my initial thoughts.

Council Member Devito: I just want to say that I’m in favor of a moratorium and working with city staff to find out more. I think it’s important to realize there are different types of data centers — there are AI versions that take up a lot of power and water, and then there are others that are a little less intensive. So I want to make sure we’re being smart and looking at all the different options here for Burien. I appreciate all the work you’re doing. Thank you.

Mayor Moore: Any other questions or feedback? I have a little bit of feedback. This is very close to what I was hoping to see. I hear more opinions and responses to data centers than I hear facts or planning. And I think it will really behoove all of us as council to study this together — and as a community, hopefully to be invited along in that study process — so that it’s not one staff member or one location holding the whole weight of this information. I really like the work you did. Do you have what you need from us?

[Community Development Director]: Mayor, it would be helpful if we could get a positive affirmation for the amount of time for the moratorium you’d be interested in. Just maybe thumbs up across the table — the options would be six months or 12 months.

Mayor Moore: Okay. I think I’ve heard a couple of 12 months. It looks like there’s overall support for 12 months. Do you want to share on that?

Council Member Schilling: I understand the 12 months, but for me, I think I’d be better off knowing we do six months and move from there rather than assuming we’d add another six.

Anmarie: I just want to note that you can always terminate a moratorium early. If you’ve done the work you need to do and regulations are ready to be adopted, you can always terminate it early.

Mayor Moore: Good to know. Thank you. So 12 months is what we started with. It looks like there’s general interest in that, and also in the possibility of terminating early if we can. Let’s see what happens.

[Community Development Director]: Thank you. We will continue to work with the city attorney on putting that together so that we can hold a public hearing and have it adopted. We’ll be back shortly. I don’t know exactly which date, but it will be soon. We’ll get that taken care of and start moving forward on the rest of the analysis. Thank you.

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Mayor Moore: And next up, we have discussion and preparation for upcoming budget priorities and levy discussion — this is preparation for the July 6, 2026 study session.

City Manager Larson: Mayor, if I could open up — I apologize, the two presenters are across the way. I felt it was important in discussion with staff that we prepare the council. We know that along a continuum some of you may be newer and some of you have had experience in these areas, but I wanted to make certain everyone’s at a comfort level preparing themselves for July 6th. It doesn’t mean you have to do a lot of homework, but there are going to be some requests. I wanted to make sure you didn’t come in cold. I’ll let Casey and Jennifer take over from here. Thank you.

Casey [Finance Director]: Good evening again. I’m Casey, the finance director. I’m here with Jennifer Howry from All Angles Consulting, who worked with you during your retreat. We’re just going to discuss how to prepare for July 6th.

Today we’d like to review the 2023 through 2028 vision and strategic plan and priorities, because that’s going to be a basis for decision-making for the next biennial budget. We’ll refresh your focus areas that you’ve already identified. We’ll talk through the timeline for budget development and make sure you’re up to speed on what you’ll need to be prepared for on July 6th. All of this will ensure staff has your direction on priorities in order to prepare the preliminary budget scenarios.

Your vision and strategic plan runs through 2028. The vision was: a vibrant and creative community where the residents embrace diversity, celebrate arts and culture, promote vitality, and treasure the environment. Out of that, there are four priorities that we’re entering the final two years of realizing: achieving financial stability, achieving racial equity, centering community accountability, and reshaping community through smart, mindful development.

So, let’s cross-walk what we’ve already heard you say are focus areas for each of those priorities.

Achieving financial stability: fiscal sustainability, community well-being and quality of life, organizational effectiveness, and economic vitality.

Achieving racial equity: housing and homelessness, community well-being and quality of life, and organizational effectiveness.

You’ll see that some of these show up in more than one category, which means with the same attempt you’re really making an impact on multiple priorities — so that might be something you’d want to call out as important.

Centering community accountability: housing and homelessness, community well-being and quality of life, and organizational effectiveness.

And reshaping community through smart mindful development: housing and homelessness, community well-being and quality of life, organizational effectiveness, and economic vitality.

Those focus areas were obtained from discussions in February and in April. That’s what we’ve pulled from those discussions.

When we go into our July 6th study session, we’re looking to discuss priorities for budget decisions. We’re going to be asking council to provide some specific things on preservation, what we should invest in, what we may need to defer or phase in or out, and things we may need to reconsider over a period of time. Our resources are limited and we need to have clear priorities with staff to build this budget, to give you a preliminary budget to make decisions from.

The next two weeks count. Staff will be working together and for July 6th we’re going to build something to bring to you — identify two to three areas to focus on, confirm the level of expectations we should be maintaining or enhancing, and identify lower areas of priority so that we can maybe reduce what we provide or delay or phase out some of those. Staff will use that direction.

We’ll be bringing to you some examples and getting some specific yes, nos, maybes — we’re not making decisions through an ordinance or resolution, just some clear boundaries and guidelines that we can build a budget from.

In terms of what staff will bring — some estimated revenue or available resources based on preliminary estimates. I have beginning fund balances from 2025, ending fund balances that are updated, and we will have forecasted revenues. Staff will be preparing to provide an updated forecast through 2031. We will have preliminary expenses categorized between what’s required, what’s grant funded, and what’s available.

After that, we’ll go over restricted funding — often the grant-funded programs and expenditures and other dedicated revenue sources. The goal, like I said, will be coming out of there with two to three main areas of focus to present for a more detailed preliminary budget for your review. We want to be able to move forward to build an informed, thoughtful budget and meet that fiscal responsibility box in our priorities.

We will also be bringing a levy discussion. The levy discussion will help staff plan next steps to ensure we’re providing direction that aligns with council priorities and community priorities. One of the topics of the levy discussion is the timing of the levy — that will be key — and how we want potential priorities in the levy and how council would like us to build out public outreach programs. We’ll be hoping to walk away from there with some key directions on which way to move forward with the levy.

Quick overview of our decision timeline: you’re here today reviewing prior discussions and preparing for July decisions. On July 6th, you’ll identify two to three focus areas and discuss levy direction. Sometime in the summer or fall, staff will develop the preliminary budget scenarios for you to review. Fall 2026, you’ll review and refine any recommendations. In late 2026, you’ll be expected to adopt the 2027–2028 biennial budget. And by January, council starts the 2029 through 2035 vision and strategic plan.

Jennifer Howry (All Angles Consulting): So for July 6th, our hopes are to get the top two to three focus areas for the budget from you, as well as your direction on service level expectations, guidance on the potential levy exploration, and clear parameters for developing preliminary budget scenarios. What questions do you have for us?

Mayor Moore: I want to say it’s good to see you again.

Jennifer Howry: It’s great to see you. Thank you for inviting me back.

Mayor Moore: Thank you for coming. Does anybody have questions?

Council Member Andrade: Can you go back to this slide? You talked about guidance on potential levy exploration. So we’re talking about a new levy — not similar to the public safety levy that didn’t pass. Is that correct?

Casey: Yeah. We want to pursue a levy — we’ve had a couple council members mention they want to talk about a levy to see if we want to pursue one and what it would look like. And one of the items is timing. Timing is important, along with public outreach. And we had a public comment tonight where someone was not opposed to a levy but said we need to find out what the community would like to see in a levy.

Council Member Andrade: And I just want to thank you for all of the work you did on the previous levy. You answered our questions. You made yourself available to us for Q&A. And while we might have a different perspective on the outcome, it’s unfair to say it was a failure on your part — postcards were sent out, public meetings were done. I was present at a meeting you held. And it’s unfortunate there were just a handful of people present. We also have to recognize that if we want to be informed, we need to make sure we come out and find out the information we want to have. So thank you for all the work that you put into that. Thank you — you and Caitlyn.

Casey: Thank you.

Mayor Moore: Other questions or comments? Deputy Mayor Garcia.

Deputy Mayor Garcia: Thank you for the presentation. This is really good — good to see the followup from the retreat in early April. Just one clarifying question: the July 6th outcomes — is this everything we’re going to try to have answered by the July 6th meeting, or will we start discussions to have all those things done by the end of July?

Casey: We’re hoping that from July 6th we’ll walk away with something solid that staff can build numbers into. So when we come back, you’ll have scenarios to say, “This works, this doesn’t work, let’s reorganize something.” We’re hoping July 6th gives us a big chunk of those check-offs.

Deputy Mayor Garcia: Yeah, really appreciate this. I think it’s starting to get us focused as a new council. One thing I think will be helpful for me going forward is to kind of review this in context, especially since one of the last items is starting to think of the next strategic plan. I’ve been going through our current strategic plan — 2023 through 2028. I’m centering: how far are we through that strategic plan as we look forward to potential levy and budget considerations? I did a quick check — we have a great website, our Burien Community Hub. It gives a percentage of goal-to-date on the five topics — achieving financial stability, achieving racial equity, centering community accountability, and reshaping community through smart mindful development. Looking at it, most of our goals are at about 50% to goal. We’re in 2026, so we’re at that 50% place.

But I’m noticing that the one goal that’s the lowest, at 40%, is achieving racial equity. So I’m going to focus a lot of my discussions for the upcoming budget on that — understanding current programs, hiring, and practices through an equity lens. I see that there was an ARE — Advancing Racial Equity — action plan with metrics that was listed as not started. I believe we invested previously in a consultant to work with our staff. So as we look into it, this is one of the things I wanted to make sure we lift up.

Casey: We will bring an update at July 6th on that also. Thank you for bringing that up.

Mayor Moore: Any other questions or comments? I have one on the budget and one on the levy. For the levy — I didn’t see it on there — I know we had talked at one time about metropolitan parks districts and was wondering if that was also being considered. I’ve been in a couple of meetings about the Metropolitan Parks with the city manager and Deputy Mayor Garcia. Most of the conversations I was in were very high level. I do have some concerns about having a Burien metro park, because we inherited a park that ran out of money and inherited it with some infrastructure that wasn’t well maintained. I fear that if we did that again, in 10 or 15 or 20 years we would inherit the same issue. So I’m not sure where that conversation currently stands, and I’m not sure if it’s fizzled out. If we do explore that option, I think we should consider whether we would have a repeat history of how we landed with parks. That’s my only thought. I’m open to continuing to look into that.

Deputy Mayor Garcia: I’ll do a brief debrief on my last conversation regarding this topic. Feasibility-wise it’s an option, but there are a lot of complexities that will make it challenging — we’ll be competing for the same voting tax. In essence we’re going to create another competing taxing venue. At the time it was recommended that it was a long-term potential once we settled our budget to look at that for the future.

And we’re capped in Burien at $5.90 per thousand. So every taxing district you add pushes that cap. Smaller taxing districts like a metropolitan park, if we get beyond that, start losing money. So it ends up like I said becoming a situation where they can’t maintain their infrastructure again. Our taxing system really needs to be revamped statewide, and that is part of the challenges. At the meeting we were at with the port, maybe we look at something more regional — partnerships or partnerships with other government agencies. Maybe with some of the school districts. I know those tend to be the partnerships that are starting to develop because schools can’t maintain rec facilities and parks can’t maintain rec facilities separately, but jointly maybe they could do a better job and create better community facilities. Just some ideas to think about.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. That was a lot of answer. So really it’s kind of like competing with all of the other—

Deputy Mayor Garcia: Yeah, the fire district. And nobody wants to compete with the fire district. You can’t compete with the firefighters. They’re heroes.

Mayor Moore: And then I had a goal — kind of for council — we’re talking about the budget and ways we can minimize the impact with a budget that’s challenging. A goal I have is for us as council to have a good vocabulary and a good way of discussing this that really grounds our goal setting, so that we’re talking the talk of what we discuss on July 6th and bringing that back in our community engagement.

Casey: Yeah, that would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[Council member, name unclear]: Other — this is a random question about the park you were talking about that we inherited with the infrastructure issues. Was this Southern Heights?

Mayor Moore: I’m not completely sure, but I think Burien became Burien in 1993, so I’m guessing we got the parks from King County and contracted with them first for maintenance. The infrastructure probably hasn’t had a lot of changes since prior to us inheriting it. You can see that if you go visit Moshier or — and our parks department has done a great job. Seahurst is beautiful and it was well thought out when they revived it. But there’s so many other facilities and we’ve done some things at BCC, but none of that lasts forever. Playground equipment is getting replaced but we have a lot of parks in our 13.2 square miles. It takes a lot of upkeep to maintain them, and we received that from King County in ’93. That’s a long time ago — but not really. It needs a lot of love.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. Any further discussion? Do you have what you need for July 6th? Thank you.

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Mayor Moore: And that gets us to the city council planning calendar. Anything for the planning calendar?

Council Member Devito: I’d like to see if we can get a presentation about what’s been going on at SCORE. I think it’s been over a year since the council has heard from SCORE.

Mayor Moore: Do we have thumbs up for a report from SCORE? Does SCORE have any contractual requirements to report to us, or do we need to ask them?

City Manager Larson: I’ve been attending their administrative board meetings and financial board meetings. I can get an update from them — I’ll see if Devin maybe wants to come present at council one night. We’ll put in a request.

Mayor Moore: Thank you. Any other planning topics?

Deputy Mayor Garcia: Yeah, just been going through the strategic plan and looking at where we’re at goal-to-date. A lot of it is projects on housing and our budget. But one item I have not received — or can’t recall receiving — an update on is the Advancing Racial Equity committee. I think that’s an internal staff city committee. I would love to just get an update on the work they’ve done over the last couple years, especially with a consultant that I believe we had invested in.

Mayor Moore: We have thumbs up for that. I’ve also been hearing a lot from the community about wanting an update on the climate action plan. Would there be interest? I know we’ve done a lot on it and I know that things connect to the climate action plan that we don’t necessarily think about. I would love a report on that at no particular time — I know after Stormfest they probably all just need to decompress for a little while.

Any other future agenda topics?

All right. Then with that, the council will now meet in executive — or closed — session per RCW 42.30.110(1)(h) to evaluate the qualifications of a candidate for appointment to elected office, and RCW 42.30.110(1)(i) to discuss with legal counsel pending or potential litigation to which the city is or is likely to become a party when public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in adverse legal or financial consequences to the city. The council will be in executive session for 50 minutes, until 9:25. The council may or may not take further action following the executive session.

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[Executive session.]

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Mayor Moore: I call the regular meeting back to order at 9:21 p.m. Any further business? Seeing none, the meeting is adjourned.

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This is a machine-generated transcript generated on the fly by Google/Youtube/AI. Accuracy totally not guaranteed. Provided only as a convenience and to help people with disabilities. Caveat lector!