The Burien City Council marked a major milestone on October 28, 2024 when it adopted the Burien 2044 Comprehensive Plan. Representing a significant amount of work performed over the past two years by staff in coordination with the Burien Planning Commission, community and advisory groups, and the community, the Comprehensive Plan is the blueprint for how the City will plan for growth over the next 20 years.
The adoption of the Comprehensive Plan also included adoption of the new Ambaum and Boulevard Park Community Plan, updates to the Greater Downtown Urban Center Plan, and the Transportation Master Plan.
“This is an exciting moment for the City of Burien,” said Community Development Director Liz Stead. “The Burien 2044 Comprehensive Plan is one where we went very strong on housing, creating a lot of change for the future of the city. In the next 20 years, we’ll look back and see that this was the one. So, I think that is pretty exciting.”
Beginning in 2022, the Shape Your City campaign invited the community to help re-imagine the long-term future of our city through a coordinated planning effort combining major updates to the Comprehensive Plan; a new Transportation Master Plan; an update to the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan; and a new Economic Development Action Plan.
The 2024-2030 Parks Recreation and Open Space Plan was adopted by the Burien City Council on March 18, 2024. The plan provides strategies to fill gaps in facilities and programs as well as a prioritized capital improvement plan.
On June 3, 2024, the Burien City Council approved the City’s Economic Development Action Plan. This plan, crafted with input from multiple community and business stakeholders, provides a roadmap for the City’s economic development efforts by identifying key actions to enhance economic vitality over the next five to ten years.
The adoption of the Burien 2044 Comprehensive Plan and Transportation Master Plan represents the culmination of the City’s Shape Your City initiative.
Learn more about the Shape Your City campaign at burienwa.gov/syc.
Shape Your City Overview
Four phases of engagement:
- Community Visioning (Q3-Q4 2022)
- We collected ideas from the community to help develop a shared vision to guide planning and policy development.
- Community Stories and Strategies (Q4 2022-Q2 2023)
- We turned those ideas into draft strategies and projects for more detailed feedback.
- Community Review (Q3 2023-Q1 2024)
- We worked on and presented draft plans for feedback.
- Legislative Review (Q1-Q4 2024)
- We presented draft plans to Burien City Council for review and approval. Community provided public comment at meetings.
Four plans adopted:
- Comprehensive Plan: Approved October 2024
- Transportation Master Plan: Approved October 2024
- Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan: Approved March 2024
- Economic Development Action Plan: Approved June 2024
More than 1,000 people* involved:
- About 500 in-person at open houses, tabling activities, and workshops
- Around 600 engagements with our online tools
*These numbers do not include the many public comments, emails, conversations, discussions at planning commission and advisory committee meetings, or engagements on social media.
