After a long and contentious debate the Burien City Council voted to approve the city's Shoreline Master Plan (SMP.) It will now move forward for review by the state Department of Ecology.

The Shoreline Master Plan, which has occupied the council's agenda for most of the summer was placed on the consent agenda of the Monday, Sept. 27 meeting.

Burien has not updated its Shoreline Master Plan since it became a city in 1993. The city adopted King County’s SMP when it incorporated. The City of Burien has spent two years drafting and revising an essentially brand new SMP.

With the council's approval the SMP now moves onto the state Department of Ecology (DOE) for final approval before it becomes implemented. The DOE must approve every SMP. In the coming months the DOE will either approve Burien’s plan or send it back to the city with recommendations.

The SMP governs the uses and regulations of a jurisdiction's shoreline 200 feet back from the ordinary high water mark. The Washington State Legislature mandated in 2003 that all local shoreline plans must be updated by 2014. The mandate affects 206 government jurisdictions in the state.

The council voted to approve the consent agenda, which included the SMP, 6-1, with Councilman Gordon Shaw voting against. He tried to pull the SMP from the consent agenda so it could have a separate discussion and vote, but failed when no other council members seconded his motion.

Shaw voiced frustration about regulations in the SMP he said will arbitrarily penalize shoreline homeowners while ignoring issues such as storm water draining into the Sound.

“It seems to me what we have set out to do here is without any merit,” Shaw said, criticizing the SMP. He said, as it is, the SMP will have no positive effect and he called its approval very bad government.

Shaw has been a strong advocate for homeowners’ rights during the SMP process. He said the vote to increase the buffer at Lake Burien from it’s current 20-foot setback to a buffer and setback of 45 feet was made with erroneous information. He said there was no science demonstrating the regulations in the SMP would positively benefit Puget Sound.

In the original draft presented to the council, a collective setback and buffer of 65 feet was proposed along the marine shoreline. Shaw fought to keep the buffers at the 20 feet they were currently at-- a battle he won. If the buffer had been increased it would have made many homes along the shoreline into non-conforming structures.

Mayor McGilton said the council did not look at the bigger picture their legislation could have had on the Sound.
“I don’t think that was something the council pursued very vigorously,” McGilton said.

McGilton has always advocated a larger buffer to help protect Puget Sound.

Deputy Mayor Rose Clark lamented the lack of state funding.
“We are left with a dirty Sound and the means to clean the water and parks is not there.”

Councilman Shaw refused to let the blame be spread around.
“You can blame it on big oil companies and the state for not having enough funding, but the enemy here is us,” Shaw said.

Members of the Marine Homeowners Association, who formed to protect their property rights in the SMP, were asked to channel their energy into becoming stewards of the Sound.