After months of advocacy by homeowners in exclusive neighborhoods, the City of Burien is officially set to consider reversing zoning changes made last year that modestly increased allowed housing density in parts of Seahurst, Lake Burien, and Three Tree Point. Last fall, the Burien City Council unanimously approved an update to the city’s Comprehensive Plan that included the zoning updates, which had been intended to foster walkable neighborhoods with more community amenities.
However, detractors had spent much of this year painting the new zoning as being out-of-alignment with the city’s environmental regulations, despite repeated assurances from Burien planning staff to the contrary.
In a 5-2 vote last week, the Burien City Council put a rollback of zoning changes in those three neighborhoods on its to-do list for 2026, updates that had allowed four to seven homes on certain residential lots. That framework went further than the new state-mandated baseline for a city of Burien’s size.
Under 2023’s House Bill 1110, Burien has to allow at least two units on all residential lots, but the areas in question had a new baseline of four units, with another two able to be added if they meet certain requirements for affordability or are close to frequent transit. With an additional incentive to preserve existing houses, property owners could ultimately assemble seven units per lot.
New commercial zoning was also approved to foster more small-scale commercial development, following in the footsteps of an existing historic store at Three Tree Point — a store that is actually set to move to Downtown Burien this fall to be more accessible to its customer base.
Though the idea of fostering those neighborhood centers though additional zoned density had been part of last year’s Comprehensive Plan update, opposition to the new R-3 zoning has ramped up over the course of this year. Opponents of additional housing have framed the changes as being incompatible with maintaining Burien’s natural environment, along with standard concerns coming from increased density like increased traffic and loss of neighborhood character.
“Seahurst is a bedroom community surrounded by trees, wildlife and water – upzoning will have a significant impact on these delicate features,” read a June meeting notice circulated by residents of Seahurst, posted on the Burien News blog. “Promoting this rezone of our residential neighborhoods under the guise of creating ‘Affordable Housing’ may check a ‘buzz word’ box but doesn’t really portray reality. Our experience has been that this type of zoning primarily benefits developers, who then RENT out these properties.”
Throughout testimony last week, the idea that the city had made a mistake in applying R-3 zoning in these areas because it could potentially conflict with the city’s Critical Areas Ordinance or with its Shoreline Master Program was pervasive.
“You understood and supported our concerns over both lack of communication from the city and zoning designated without thoroughly investigating, understanding and adhering jurisdictions and guidelines that must be followed regarding critical areas in the [Shoreline Master Program],” Three Tree Point resident Dawn Lemmel told the council. “The zoning process was erroneously designed when absolute requirements and state-directed restrictions were not respected, followed or adhered to by city staff. If you do not correct this, you are equally culpable.”
Neither the city’s regulations around development in critical areas or those dealing with shorelines are superseded by zoning, and development in the R-3 zones would still need to comply with environmental regulations in the same way that a property owner building a single family home with an accessory dwelling unit would. Burien City staff raised this fact in 2024. Nothing makes a four-unit development inherently more environmentally destructive than a large single family homes, or an illegally constructed cabana built close to the shoreline, a pervasive problem that the City of Burien has been dealing with in Three Tree Point for years.
“The Shoreline Master Program is a separate document from the Comprehensive Plan, and it regulates how you can develop on specific pieces of property that are near the shoreline,” Liz Stead, Burien’s Community Development Director, told the council last October. “And so it is something that goes on top of any other zoning regulations or ordinances. The Comprehensive Plan gives a big overview of what type of development you can have in different areas of the city. So you can have just a single family [house] or you can have some low-scale multifamily. The Shoreline Master Program doesn’t give you development rights, but it actually controls how much density [can be built] on site.”
But the council’s five-member majority, the same bloc that has come together to approve policies like the city’s punitive camping ban earlier this year, sided with the homeowner groups in putting the issue on its 2026 to-do list. Washington cities can only update their Comprehensive Plans once per year outside of an emergency, and last week’s action sets up that potential update next year. Only Councilmembers Hugo Garcia and Sarah Moore voted against advancing the issue.
“The communities of Three Tree Point and Lake Burien have worked hard and consistently to bring this to our attention, and I do think it’s time that we listened,” Councilmember Stephanie Mora said before making the motion.
“In my view, a lot of the zoning didn’t make sense to me in the areas with with shoreline restrictions and tree canopy restrictions and bussing and all of that, it felt to me as if it was being over zoned,” Councilmember Linda Akey said. “And we are a tier two city without an expectation of becoming a tier one city anywhere in the next 10 to 20 years, and I just felt that we didn’t need to over zone certain areas where we wouldn’t be able to do that.”
Akey was referencing the fact that state law won’t require Burien to allow four units on all lots until it hits 75,000 in population. Today Burien’s population is just over 53,000.
By next year when the issue comes back in front of the council, its composition could look very different. With four seats on the ballot in November, both Garcia and Moore have a clear path to reelection based on their performance in the August primary, with another progressive, Sam Méndez, coming out ahead for the open Position 3 seat. The race to watch will be Position 7, where Mora faces a challenge from former planning commissioner Rocco DeVito.
Just last week, Burien’s entire progressive slate, including Moore, Garcia, Méndez and DeVito, received a big boost via an endorsement from 7th Congressional District Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
DeVito told The Urbanist that he would not have voted to advance potential changes to zoning in Three Tree Point, Lake Burien, or Seahurst.
“I think we need housing in all neighborhoods, and that includes modest upzones to smaller neighborhoods. We all have to be in it together and make sure that we meet our goals and also make sure we’re having taxes to pay for services,” DeVito said, linking this debate to one that has been happening within Burien since before it was incorporated in 1993.
“Looking at Burien, the City incorporated primarily to stop unfettered apartment building when they were unincorporated, and so this kind of attitude of preserving the status quo has been the city’s way of dealing with things for a long time,” DeVito said. “So it is definitely a change for folks, and I understand change is hard for a lot of people, but we both need the people and space, and we also need to make sure that we are growing our city and keeping our tax revenue strong so that we can keep supporting programs for all citizens.”
Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling, running this year for state legislature on a platform that highlights the issue of building more housing, nonetheless sided with the homeowners. Schilling faces a tough race against incumbent Edwin Obras (33rd Legislative District), who came out well ahead of Schilling in the August primary.
“Thanks to folks in the community who kept at it and started in the summer and invited all of us to come speak to you at some of the biggest community gatherings I’ve ever been to in Burien,” Schilling said. You’re all just a bunch of neighbors who got together and said we want to change something, and so I appreciate your fortitude in that.”
The vote tees up a debate over the future of Burien’s lower density neighborhoods in 2026, with the battle lines now clearly drawn.
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
