TagCity of Burien(173)

The City of Burien's 2025 State Legislative Agenda outlines the city's priorities across three main areas: healthy and thriving communities, quality of life and economic development, and behavioral health. Key goals include supporting affordable housing and childcare, revising the property tax cap to keep pace with inflation, investing in aging local infrastructure, and expanding behavioral health co-responder programs. The agenda also advocates for resources to support migrant and asylum seeker arrivals and funding for gang prevention and law enforcement training.

The Burien Airport Committee held a meeting on December 17, 2024, to discuss topics related to Sea-Tac Airport noise and expansion policy, including a wrap-up of public comments on the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP), a possible multi-city response to the SAMP, and potential state-level mitigation legislation. The committee also considered expanding its membership from five to seven members and reviewed a StART (Sea-Tac Airport Roundtable) committee update. Members of the public were invited to participate in person at Burien City Hall, via Zoom, or by submitting written comments in advance.

The City of Burien's 2025 Federal Agenda, prepared by the Johnston Group, outlines lobbying priorities that include pushing for reduced airport noise and emissions near Sea-Tac Airport, conducting a new SEA-TAC noise study, and securing dedicated funding for aviation-impacted communities. The agenda also seeks increased Sustainable Airport Master Plan funding and supports the FAA Reauthorization Act as key vehicles for advancing these goals. Burien's federal lobbying effort aims to build congressional relationships and align city priorities with available federal funding to address the ongoing impacts of airport operations on surrounding neighborhoods.

https://www.burienwa.gov/business/community_development/planning_initiatives/northeast_redevelopment_area

A letter from the City of Burien to WSDOT criticizes the 2017 Washington Aviation System Plan (WASP) for failing to address the health and environmental impacts of growing aircraft noise and air pollution on communities near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The letter argues that the plan focuses too narrowly on aviation and economic development while ignoring issues such as hearing loss, poor student performance, sleep disruption, and asthma affecting lower-income and ethnically diverse neighborhoods. The author calls on WSDOT and regional governments to explore alternative airport locations to relieve the disproportionate burden placed on South King County communities.

The Burien Airport Committee (BAC) recommends capping flights at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, citing unacceptable health burdens from aircraft noise and air pollution on surrounding communities. The committee argues that decades of regional planning studies have failed to identify alternatives to concentrating all air traffic growth at Sea-Tac, and that current expansion plans will likely be insufficient beyond 2025. BAC opposes Sea-Tac's SAMP expansion plan and calls on state and regional officials to identify alternative locations for future air passenger and cargo growth.

This document is a review by ABCx2 of a Port of Seattle presentation to the city of Burien regarding the Sea-Tac Airport Master Plan (SAMP) Environmental Impact Statement. It raises concerns about the Port's decision to limit its environmental review of airport impacts to 2018 rather than 2012, questions whether significant construction growth and flight increases during that period were properly analyzed under federal (NEPA) and state (SEPA) environmental law, and challenges the Port's characterization of the FAR Part 150 noise abatement process as purely voluntary. The document also examines potential consequences if the Port fails to meet noise mitigation commitments tied to federal funding.

The Burien City Council wrote to Sea-Tac Airport CEO Lance Lyttle raising concerns about the operations of the Sea-Tac Stakeholder Advisory Round Table (StART), a cooperative forum between the airport and neighboring cities. The letter identifies four key issues: limited community input into meeting agendas, inaccurate or incomplete meeting minutes, a lack of formal consensus process when StART's name was used to promote a voluntary nighttime noise reduction program, and insufficient time given to the Council to review StART decisions before they are finalized. The Council requests clearer timelines, audio recordings of meetings, and greater opportunity for elected representatives to provide feedback before public commitments are made on behalf of the City of Burien.