By Jake Goldstein-Street, News Intern
The rights of renters dominated the public comment portion of the Burien City Council’s regular meeting, held on Monday, June 18.
Julissa Sanchez, a member of the Tenants Union of Washington State, told of someone she knew who was threatened with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after asking for a simple roof repair.
Burien resident Irene Danish also spoke during the public comment session. “I’m really interested in anything we can do that’s going to make life better and work better for those that get discriminated against with housing,” she said.
The council acknowledged the issue in their discourse later in the meeting. Each member raised a number of issues on this topic.
For example, Mayor Jimmy Matta wanted to ensure that both the tenant and the landlord feel that their rights are being respected. With the recent news of immigration in the U.S., councilmember Krystal Marx hoped to put in place housing protections for immigrants in the future. Both Marx and councilmember Nancy Tosta voiced their support for a further dialogue on just cause evictions.
During the public comment period of the meeting, a number of residents also stressed the importance of the single-use plastics ban in Burien. The discussion is expected to be on the agenda in August.
Economic development manager Andrea Snydermade apresentation about a hotel development in the city’s downtown area and discussed results of a consultation from the CBRE Group on the project.
The specific property being eyed for this development is currently an inventory lot, located on SW 150th St, rented by Toyota, next to the transit center.
“It’s bare ground, so that means that the developers don’t need to demolish a building,” Snyder said. “They pretty much start with a blank canvas.”
She explained that CRBE identified a need for additional hotel space, even though more than 1,700 rooms have come on to the market in Tukwila and SeaTac alone since 2016. The group is convinced that Burien’s proximity to the airport still warrants demand for an 80 to100-room hotel from a national brand, such as Red Lion Hotels, La Quinta Inns & Suites or Hampton Inn.
The project is still in the early planning stages and the City of Burien will form a steering committee of at least six experts to ensure community support for the development.
While the Burien community may want a small boutique hotel, the CBRE study found that a national brand should come in first to prove that there is a market for hotels in the area.
The speaker believed a hotel developer could be selected as early as the end of December of this year if all goes as planned.
“It’s exciting," Tosta said. "We’ve been talking about a hotel for a long time,” Tosta said.
The next Burien City Council meeting is slated for 7 p.m. on Monday, July 2 at City Hall, which is located at 400 SW 152nd St.
