The Burien City Council meeting held on Monday, Feb. 10, 2015 covered several issues impacting the city, from transportation changes due to the upcoming Link light rail expansion to potential infrastructure improvements for a possible international market.

Public commenters voiced concerns regarding renter protections and council meeting rules.

The council also discussed a federal funding opportunity for the market project, potential changes to meeting rules of order, parking enforcement updates, and renter protection policies.

Light Rail Expansion, Bus Routes Cut

The meeting began with a presentation from King County Metro on planned changes to several bus routes. These changes will happen as a result of the coming Link light rail expansion from Star Lake to Federal Way. There is a survey as well as more information available at this link. The survey will be available until February 28th.

The changes include removing ten peak-only bus routes in the region, including the 121, 122, and 123 in Burien. These routes are currently suspended, along with most of the other planned route cuts. Metro plans to increase Saturday & Sunday service to many bus routes, as well as improve east-west connections.

After the presentation, Deputy Mayor Sarah Moore and Councilmember Hugo Garcia both asked about the cuts to the suspended Burien bus routes. It was explained that these routes were underutilized, and improvements come at a cost. Mayor Kevin Schilling said he would love to see Link light rail expand, one day, to the Burien Transit Center.

Public Comments

Commenters asked the council to preserve renter protections, saying loosening restrictions on landlords would increase homelessness. They also asked the council, while they are reviewing council rules, not to limit the topics that can be addressed during Public Comments to agenda items only. In addition, they did not want to see the two-touch method scrapped, arguing that having to vote on items at two consecutive meetings has served the city well, giving the council and public more time to discuss and research topics.

Federal Funding Opportunity for International Market Infrastructure

The council heard a presentation on a way to fund infrastructure improvements that would help with the placement of an international public market in Burien. The location under consideration is Town Square Park, where the Burien Farmers Market takes place every Thursday. The infrastructure would include some kind of permanent or semi-permanent roofing to keep venders’ wares dry. In addition to vendors wanting weather protection, business owners want to see more families gathering downtown, so the project could also include a play structure.

According to the presentation, there has been a lot of regional support for the construction of an international public market, along the lines of Seattle’s Pike Place Market. There are three cities being considered for the location of this market, including Burien. In order to get the federal infrastructure grant, worth $3 million, Burien would need to come up with a 20% match. The match could include staff hours, or possibly the value of the street right-of-way for the project. The grant application process could take a year to complete.

Council Meeting Rules Of Order Discussed

No changes were made to the rules of order during this meeting, but City Attorney Garmon Newsom II walked the council through a series of possible changes. Most of these were simply updates for clarity; however, some of the changes would have an impact on how meetings are run. One example is that the Native Land & Peoples Acknowledgment could be available only on the website, rather than read aloud at the start of each meeting.

Public comments could be moved earlier in the meetings. In addition, comments could be limited to those that relate to the meeting’s agenda items. The two-touch system could be eliminated for standard items, but would still be required for certain statutes. Another potential change is that proclamations could only be made if requested by organizations. The council will be discussing these changes further in a future meeting.

Parking Enforcement Updates

Burien has one officer in charge of parking enforcement, and he has shared some of his concerns with enforcing the parking ordinance. When a vehicle is oversized, the city’s prior ordinance goes by the vehicle’s weight. Instead, with council approval, the ordinance will now consider a vehicle oversized if it is over 90” wide, since the width of a parked vehicle is more practical to measure.

In addition, it was mentioned that chalking tires, a practice used in the past for parking enforcement, has been found to be constitutional. Chalking has not been used since the method was first challenged years ago, and the city was poised to spend $50,000 on digital technology that would allow them to determine if a vehicle had moved, as required when in a time-limited parking spot. Fortunately, chalking was determined to be legal just before this money was spent, so instead of $50,000, they only have to spend $10 on a pack of chalk.

Rental Policy Discussion Tabled

Councilmember Stephanie Mora did not receive support for her motion to repeal the city’s renter protections. Deputy Mayor Sarah Moore asked that the ordinance be updated to require that all fees be listed in the rental agreement. Councilmember Linda Akey asked for more time to read up on this before voting. The council tabled this topic until a future meeting.