At a Community Meeting on July 19, City of Burien staff announced that they are recommending the removal of the stairs at Eagle Landing Park, “due to hillside instability and hazardous hillside conditions.”
The city said that only the active and steep feeder bluff area on the western edge of the park is anticipated to be closed. The unaffected areas of the park – nearly 6 acres, including the parking lot and trail – will remain open.
“Should it be deemed feasible and safe, a viewpoint at the top of the hillside may be considered,” the city said. It is unknown what the cost of a viewpoint would be.
The city received grants of $1,671,227 from the state’s Recreation and Conservation Office (including matching funds) in 2005-2006 to purchase and develop Eagle Landing Park. It is not yet known whether the city will have to reimburse the grant money.
The potential closing of the stairs at this popular park has generated a lot of public interest, including from some neighboring residents who claim that the landslides that caused the closing could be blamed on stormwater drainage mismanagement.
A proposed budget of $300-$500,000 for construction of a tightline stormwater drainage system was also proposed by Maiya Andrews at the meeting.
The stairs have been closed since Dec., 2014.
Burien Parks staff anticipates discussion of this issue will be on the Aug. 20 City Council agenda. Anyone with concerns about this issue should email the council and/or attend the meeting.
Below are two videos from the meeting (we had tech issues and had to re-start), as broadcast live on our Facebook page (be sure to “Like” us there to get alerts for future live videos):
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