Last fall, the Burien City Council adopted a five-year strategic plan to help both the City Council and staff identify areas where we need to focus our efforts. The plan sets the tone for budgeting priorities and staff work planning. The strategic planning process was a collaborative effort between the City Council and City of Burien staff guided by feedback from the community gathered through public workshops and the Community Survey.
Progress will be reviewed regularly by the City Council and City staff and updates will be shared with the community through an online dashboard. View the dashboard and learn more at burienwa.gov/StrategicPlan.
We’re only six months into this five-year plan and have already made significant progress. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights!
Strategic Direction: Achieving Financial Stability
Current Progress:
Goals:
- Define current and future financial outlook and budget needs
- Implement councilmanic (council-approved) revenue options
- Implement voter-approved revenue options
Success Metrics:
- Financial consultant has completed financial outlook
- Staff and financial consultants have made presentations to the City Council
- Councilmanic options and ballot measure implemented
Notable Milestones: Implementation of revenue options by the City Council in April 2024 and progress made by staff on exploring a ballot initiative to raise revenue.
On passage of the recent councilmanic revenue options, Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon shared, “It is incredibly difficult to exit deficit spending. It’s arguably the most important issue for cities as this is what allows cities to actually pay for services, parks, human services, everything that a city does to try to meet the needs of its people. The City Council has made this a priority, and this is a major accomplishment which will now allow staff to help build toward the future.”
Strategic Direction: Achieving Racial Equity
Current Progress:
Goals:
- Understand current programs, hiring, and practices through an equity lens
- Establish internal framework and structures to support equity goals
- Establish a training program for the City of Burien organization
Success Metrics:
- Committee has clarity about focus, goals, roles, and responsibilities
- Burien policies, plans, and programs advance opportunity and reduce harm to our community members
- All staff have a common understanding of anti-racism and their role in that work
- Burien has clarity about a vision and action steps for the 2025-26 biennium
Notable Milestones: The staff-led Advancing Racial Equity Committee has been meeting regularly since 2021. In 2024, the committee completed a major update to its charter and is hard at work on developing an equity impact tool for auditing the City’s programs and practices.
Gabbi Gonzales, Advancing Racial Equity Committee member, explains the importance of the committee’s work: “Taking actionable steps towards achieving racial justice in the City of Burien is important work and a necessary responsibility of all staff to ensure that the community as a whole, including those who have faced the greatest historic inequities, thrive. In moving towards justice, everyone benefits regardless of race, gender, age, or ability.”
Strategic Direction: Centering Community Accountability
Current Progress:
Goals:
- Customer service experience improved in prioritized areas
- Strengthen citywide community engagement and communications capacity
- Digital engagement infrastructure maintained, expanded, and adapted to meet community need and expectation
Success Metrics:
- Time to respond to issues reduced
- People impacted by projects, programs, and policies are more engaged
- New and more members of community participating in civic processes
- Community can find essential information and access online City services easily in formats that are accessible and meet their needs
Notable Milestones: By the beginning of 2024, most City permit application processes had completed the transition from paper forms to a new, paperless, streamlined online portal. A staff-led Community Engagement Committee meets monthly to for cross-departmental collaboration and learning. The Community Connectors program is now in its second full year, with participants supporting authentic community engagement efforts in five languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Amharic, and Oromo.
Community Connector Nha Khuc shared her thoughts on the program’s importance: “I think it’s really important for there to be more programs like this because there are so many immigrant families here in the U.S., there are so many people who still don’t speak English even though they’ve been here for a long time. I’m sure they crave that kind of connection with their community, they just couldn’t because of that language barrier and having a program like this where people from the community were hired to work for and connect with people in the community, I feel that makes more safe space for them to feel comfortable, for sharing their feedback and their thoughts on how they feel living in the city.”
Strategic Direction: Reshaping Community through Smart, Mindful Development
Current Progress:
Goals:
- Achieve major planning and policymaking efforts
- New zoning and design standards approved
- Increase the number and type of affordable housing units
- Attract new businesses and development
- Optimize opportunity sites
Success Metrics:
- Increase in the quality and diversity of jobs citywide
- Increase in housing citywide
- Increase in housing affordable to all income bands
- Preservation strategies in place for naturally-occurring affordable housing
- Comprehensive Plan (Burien 2044), Transportation Master Plan, Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan, Economic Development Action Plan approved
- Increased development potential for commercially-zoned properties
- Middle housing zoning in place
- Urban Center and 1st Ave. S. mixed use/commercial zoning in place
- Ambaum and Boulevard Park zoning in place
- Design standards for residential/commercial sites in neighborhood centers in place
- Affordable housing monitoring staff capacity and systems in place through South King Housing and Homelessness Partners (SKHHP)
- Integrated, online permit system/customer service system launched and supported
- Increase in number and valuation of commercial development permits issued
- Increase in sales tax revenue
- New housing development that meets community needs
- More development for government-owned lands in the pipeline
Notable Milestones: In the first half of 2024, both the Economic Development Action Plan and the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan were finalized and adopted by the Burien City Council. The draft Comprehensive Plan, Transportation Master Plan, and the Ambaum and Boulevard Park Subarea Plan are expected to be adopted later this year.
City of Burien Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Casey Stanley explained the importance of passing the PROS plan: “Adopting the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan is crucial in ensuing our growth is smart, sustainable, and aligned with the evolving needs of our residents.”
