At the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council hearing on Nov. 3, Burien City Manager Mike Martin presented his monthly status report to the group.
Annexation
Martin said Governor Gregoire’s proposed cut to the sales tax credit for cities annexing unincorporated areas is not as simple as media has reported.
“She is proposing to eliminate the present and future tax credit,” Martin said. “It is a proposal that relies on changing the law through legislation. That seems to be lost on a lot of people; there is a whole legislative process, a gauntlet that must be surmounted to actually do this.”
“That’s not to say that it isn’t very serious when the Governor proposes something like this, but I wanted to make clear that it is by no means a slam dunk,” he continued.
Martin said he recently held a conference call with several other cities who have or plan to annex unincorporated areas. Burien falls into both categories with the annexation of Boulevard Park in 2010 and plans for the rest of North Highline. He said 120 cities, including Burien, have signed and sent a letter telling the Governor they are “mildly disappointed” in her proposal.
Martin said the city has moved forward in filing their notice of intent with the Boundary Review Board, a necessary early step in the process that defines the area to be annexed.
“We are going to continue moving forward until somebody tells us differently,” Martin said.
“My council has been pretty clear that if the sales tax credit wasn’t present we wouldn’t go through with annexation; that is just a fact,” he added.
New hires for the city
Martin relayed the hiring of three new people for the City of Burien.
Nhan Nguyen, formally of the White Center Community Development Association, has been hired as a Management Analyst. Martin said the lion’s share of his work will be on annexation.
“He knows the area well and he’ll be the go-to person that I’ll bring with me when I talk with the community about what is going on with annexation and how that might affect them,” Martin said.
As the Highline Times recently reported, Martin hired a new economic development manager in Dan Trimble. Trimble left his post as Issaquah’s EDM to join Burien. He will fill the shoes of Dick Loman, who retired in September of this year.
And lastly, Martin just hired his new public works director Maiya Andrews, who has worked in Des Moines and Newcastle. Andrews replaces Burien’s last director Larry Blanchard.
Auto Mall progress
As the Highline Times recently reported, the City of Burien is working towards moving the big auto dealers of 1st Ave S. to a new auto mall that would take up around 50 acres on the Burien side of Des Moines Memorial Drive, mostly north of SR 518 with a smaller section to the south.
Martin said he expects to find out this month whether the Port of Seattle is willing to sell the land for development.
“We would be reclaiming 30 to 40 acres on 1st Ave for other kinds of retail development,” Martin said in reference to the potential exodus of car dealers.
“This is right on the verge of becoming a reality,” he added, although both auto dealers and Burien Councilmember Gordon Shaw have said the earliest the project could likely happen is 2014.
The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meets on the first Thursday of each month at the North Highline Fire District building.
