Burien Municipal Code (BMC) 9.85.150 prohibits individuals from sleeping overnight on public property if there is a shelter, bed, or treatment facility available.
It shall be unlawful to use nonresidential public property as a living space in Burien at all hours. Except, the prohibition shall not apply if there is no available overnight shelter, as defined below, and only if a person is camping in a non-prohibited location. This exception permitting the use of nonresidential public property as a living space only applies between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning. This exception is not a defense to other law violations.
“Nonresidential public property as a living space” means to camp, dwell, lodge, reside, sleep, or exercise nontransitory exclusive control over any portion of nonresidential public property.
“Nonresidential public property” means any Burien park, street, sidewalk, or any other open area where Burien or another governmental agency has a property interest, including easements. “Nonresidential public property” does not include apartments, houses, other fixed residential living quarters owned or leased by Burien or King County, or locations explicitly excluded from this definition by the City Manager or City Council.
Signs of camping could include but are not limited to, bedding, cots, sleeping bags, tents or other temporary shelters, personal belongings storage, and cooking equipment use or storage.