Editing Burien, Washington (section)

===North Highline annexation===
[[Image:threetreepoint BurienWA.JPG|thumb|[[Three Tree Point]] in Burien at sunset]]
Late in 2004, the city assessed the possibility of annexing North Highline (which includes [[White Center, Washington|White Center]] and [[Riverton-Boulevard Park, Washington|Boulevard Park]]), "one of the largest urban unincorporated areas of King County," which would double the size of Burien. Many citizens spoke against the annexation and created picket signs and petitions to protest against it. Other citizens welcomed the expansion, as they felt parts of the so-called North Highline area should have been part of the original Burien incorporation, and the area in question is part of the larger Highline area. (The Highline area includes the cities of Burien, Seatac, Des Moines, Federal Way and an unincorporated area called North Highline.)

In May 2008, the Burien City Council proposed an annexation of the southern portion of North Highline, comprising 14,000 residents. In late summer of 2008, the city of Burien prepared to submit their annexation proposal to King County's Boundary Review Board. However, after the city of Seattle protested Burien's proposal, Burien opted to withdraw their annexation plan and resubmit it after new countywide planning policies went into effect.

In October 2008, the Burien City Council voted to resubmit their annexation plan to the county Boundary Review Board. However, the cities of Burien and Seattle, along with King County and other stakeholders, first participated and completed [[mediation]] to ensure the interests of all parties involved were met. Affected stakeholders would have agreed to a preliminary annexation framework that stipulated how annexation would play out between the cities of Burien and Seattle and with King County. However, the Seattle City Council voted against the agreement that February. It is not known if Seattle has any future plans for annexation of any part of the North Highline area.

On April 16, 2009, the Boundary Review Board of King County approved Burien's proposal for annexation of the southern portion of the North Highline area: parts of the [[Riverton-Boulevard Park, Washington|Riverton-Boulevard Park]] CDP.

In early May 2009, both King County and the city of Burien passed resolutions to place an annexation proposition on the August 18 primary ballot. The annexation area voted on consisted of southern North Highline and had an area of about {{convert|1600|acre|km2}} and approximately 14,000 citizens.  The ballot issue was approved by a majority of southern North Highline residents, and on April 1, 2010, southern North Highline became part of Burien.<ref name="CoB annexation">{{cite web|title=North Highline Annexation|publisher=City of Burien|url=http://www.burienwa.gov/index.aspx?NID=321|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029031049/http://www.burienwa.gov/index.aspx?NID=321|archive-date=October 29, 2012}}</ref>

After the annexation vote, a special census was conducted, and it was determined that the newly annexed area had 14,292 residents. This resulted in a new population total of 52,066, making Burien the [[List of municipalities in Washington|25th]] largest city in Washington State.

The Boundary Review Board approved a second proposal for Burien to annex northern North Highline (also known as Area Y) in February 2012,<ref name="CoB annexation"/> but this was rejected by Area Y residents in November 2012.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.westseattleherald.com/2012/11/13/news/update-north-highline-voters-clearly-decline-buri |title=UPDATE: North Highline voters clearly decline Burien's annexation offer |first=Ty |last=Swenson |date=November 13, 2012 |newspaper=West Seattle Herald |access-date=August 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826113214/http://www.westseattleherald.com/2012/11/13/news/update-north-highline-voters-clearly-decline-buri |archive-date=August 26, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>