Cities
Original article posted Sept 14, 2026. Updated Sept 16.
Burien Community Development Director Liz Stead will leave the city Sept. 18 to become Permitting Division Director for King County’s Department of Local Services.
King County announced Stead’s appointment Sept. 10. In her new position, she will help oversee permitting activity serving about 250,000 residents and businesses in unincorporated King County.
Stead joined Burien on April 22, 2024. When she was hired, the city said her immediate priority was guiding adoption of Burien’s 20-year Comprehensive Plan and related code changes.
In Burien, Stead’s Community Development Department oversees planning, building permits, land-use review, code enforcement and related development work. Before joining Burien, she spent 16 years with the City of Bellevue, including as Urban Design Planning Manager and Land Use Director.
Stead holds master’s degrees in public administration and architecture.
King County said Stead will replace Mark Rowe, who has been interim permitting director since the beginning of the year. Rowe will return to his role as permitting deputy director.
The Highline Journal asked Burien whether it plans to appoint an interim director, whether recruitment for the position has begun and how major planning and development projects already underway will be handled.
Devin Chicras from the City of Burien responded this week, saying, "A transition plan will be put in place to ensure the work of the department continues moving forward as smoothly as possible. A temporary acting director will serve until an interim director is named. There is no exact date for when the job posting will be made available, but we'll be sure to share that out on appropriate platforms like LinkedIn."
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