Burien Council continues work on economic development plan

by Jack Mayne Most of the Monday night (Sept. 8) special Burien City Council meeting was given over to how to spell out specific actions to carry out a city economic plan, a plan that has been in the works for some months, taking up many regular and special meetings. The Council’s major activity this week was to continue to make some progress to line up wording on actions the city may want to take to implement goals already approved. The Council also approved authorization of the sales of $3.6 million in general obligation bonds used to purchase property in the North East Redevelopment Area last year. Once the Council OKs the actions and goals, it will be up to the city staff to create a work plan to carry out the plan. The Burien city staff noted the strategic plan process was finished in June, then the Council began to devise goals and actions for the plans’ implementation. The staff recommended the Council “continue the discussion of proposed actions to focus on the key priorities for the next two year budget cycle,” and recommended the body “go through each of the edits shown in the attachments and decide to accept, modify, or not accept each amendment.” A plethora of changes Council members Debi Wagner, Lauren Berkowitz, Nancy Tosta, Mayor Lucy Krakowiak and Deputy Mayor Bob Edgar each submitted versions of changes to the Economic Development Strategic Plan Goals, so there were five versions – plus the original document – that had been sent to Council members for comment and suggested revisions. It appeared the members agree on the general intent of the document, but did differ on various wording and in some cases on clarity of intent about an issue. During the meeting there were suggested changes to order of the list of goals, including minor errors and consolidation of wording that Economic Development Manager Dan Trimble was working on documents beamed over the Council chambers computer system. All of the edits from members on Goal A, which is to “Attract and retain businesses through an active business retention and recruitment program”, were discussed. The city staff will refer the draft document to city boards and commissions for comment before final Council adoption in October. Finally, the Economic Development Dialog on September 27, 2014, a session where the public will be asked to review and comment on the plan so that that input, along with the Council and staff will be reflected in the final document. Trimble mentioned the web page for the Dialog is www.burienwa.gov/EconomicDevelopmentDialog]]>