Planning Services Manager Bharat Singh told the San Mateo County Planning Commission on April 9 that the department’s long-range work program for 2025 centers on housing-related rezoning, safety- and environmental-justice elements, several coastal community plans and transportation studies, and new operational tools for public access.

Singh said HCD (California Department of Housing and Community Development) has found the county’s revised housing element met statutory requirements and that the department is hiring consultants to prepare rezoning work, including CEQA review and outreach. "The rezoning is expected to be completed by the end of 2026," Singh said.

Commissioners heard why rezoning consultants are needed and what they will do: review existing policies and development standards, reconcile conflicts with older specific plans (Singh cited the Colma specific plan as an example), run required outreach, and support CEQA analysis. Singh said the consultant contract will be paid from the county budget, not HCD funding.

Singh described the work program’s organization: state-mandated policy updates, ordinance and regulation updates, community plans and studies, and transportation plans and studies. He highlighted projects prioritized as housing-related (shown in green on the shared work plan), and listed coast-side community studies including Plan Princeton, a South County (Pescadero) workforce housing analysis, Highway 1 safety improvements, and the Carlos Street multimodal trail gap closure.

On safety and environmental justice, Singh said the safety element and EJ element are in outreach; the county will hold a joint safety-element workshop with Half Moon Bay on April 28. He said the county must update its open-space element by January 2026 under a state requirement (cited in the presentation as "state law 1425") and will incorporate findings from the EJ element where necessary.

Transportation projects noted included the Moss Beach congestion and safety project (in project approval/environmental phase with SMCTA, running through fall 2026), the "Get There Together" transportation-demand-management plan adopted by the Board of Supervisors, and the Carlos Street parallel trail gap-closure study funded by ABAG/MTC. Singh said the county has a draft trail study and is assessing alternatives to implement recommendations.

Singh also presented four operational projects: a Connect-the-Coastside transportation-projects mapper (an online GIS tool planned for a summer launch), an operational "Do I need a tree permit?" tool on sanmateocountytrees.org, formation of a drought working group funded by state funds, and a housing permit data dashboard for public consumption. Singh said the tree-permit tool is already operational and the mapper and drought group are expected to be in place by mid-summer.

Commissioners pressed staff on resourcing. Planning Director Steve Manowitz (presenting as part of staff) described the long-range planning team as "small but mighty," said the county is negotiating budget requests with the county executive office and budget office, and warned that constrained county finances could force reprioritization. "There are no guarantees at this point," he said. Commissioners asked for periodic updates; Manowitz said the department will report progress in director’s reports and that the required housing-element annual progress report goes to the Board of Supervisors on May 20 and will be summarized for the commission at its May 14 meeting.

Public comment on the item included a five-minute statement from Midcoast resident Len Erickson, who urged better coordination with Caltrans on long-range Highway 1 planning near Surfers Beach and noted the need for integrated planning on coastal trail and highway realignment projects.

The presentation closed with commissioners and staff agreeing to continue status updates as projects proceed and budget outcomes become clearer.