The Burien Creative District Planning Committee was formed as a sub-committee to the Burien District at the Chamber in May of 2019. It was formed after requests from members and approval from the Board of Directors with the expressed desire to work in collaboration and strategic partnership with arts organizations, businesses, and community stakeholders to research and potentially create an established state designated Cultural District within the City of Burien.

The Planning Committee met monthly from May of 2019. Each Planning Committee meeting was attended by approximately 10-12 planning committee members. Meetings are ongoing and contributions of the volunteers on the Planning Committee are approximately 310-372 hours.

The Planning Committee hosted several community outreach events and engagements: an open house at the Highline Heritage Museum in 2019, a booth at the Farmers Market in 2020, a virtual visioning session in February of 2021. The Committee also conducted 2 surveys, one in 2019 and one in 2021. A website was created along with a Facebook page and group. Individual meetings were conducted one on one with community members, stakeholders and organizations. Approximate contributions of volunteer time to host and conduct outreach and community engagement is estimated at between 900 and 1100 hours.

The Planning Committee also created several sub-committees to focus on specific work objectives. The Civic subcommittee was formed to work on capital projects and potential development work. The Buzz subcommittee was formed to work on a community outreach and engagement strategy and the Vision subcommittee was formed to work on the strategic plan for the district. It is estimated that together volunteer contributions for subcommittee work total between 400 and 500 hours collectively.

In 2021 the Steering Committee was formed as a way to cultivate wider community engagement and to help the Planning Committee finalize the plan for the Creative District. The Steering Committee meets every other month. Approximately 15-20 Individuals attend and engage each meeting for an approximate contribution of time between 90 and 120 hours.

Each individual member of both the Planning and Steering Committees also works independently on particular aspects of research, outreach and development. While it is hard to gauge a true total of each individual’s separate time and contribution the committee estimates an additional 600-800 hours of collective individual work has been dedicated to the project, bringing the total of volunteer hours to between 2300 and 2892. At the current State of WA minimum wage that would be calculated at a contribution equal to $31,487 or $39,591 respectively.