San Rafael highlights progress on economic strategy, cites large development pipeline

San Rafael officials on Feb. 17 reported tangible progress implementing the city's 2023 economic strategy plan and outlined next steps to support businesses and manage a heavy development pipeline.

Stacy Lauman, the city's economic development program manager, said the city has moved about 20 of the plan's 31 tasks into implementation and continues to expand programs to aid local businesses. "In 2025, we have continued to activate the San Rafael Go program," Lauman said. She told the committee the program fielded roughly 25 in-depth inquiries from firms seeking sites or permits in the city last year.

Why it matters: staff framed the update as a moment to consolidate early wins while preparing for growth. Lauman pointed to three policy areas where the city expects continued emphasis: business support and permitting assistance, targeted economic incentives, and leveraging public-art and event programming to boost downtown visitation.

Among the measures cited, staff said the city offered temporary economic incentives to support nascent business types: a two-year tax reduction for cannabis delivery businesses and a two-year fee reduction for streetery permits. Lauman also noted the launch of a new mobile-vending program and transfer of event administration to the Community & Economic Development Division to better coordinate promotion and permits.

Development pipeline and valuations City staff emphasized a robust development pipeline. Lauman singled out three projects as examples: an Aegis senior facility at 800 Mission with 101 units that opened in 2025; "Madera" at 930 Irwin, described as about 210 apartments with a cited construction valuation of $42 million; and a 703 3rd Street project with a construction valuation cited at $24 million. Lauman said the construction valuations are partial measures of total project investment and that full development costs will likely be higher. The presentation characterized the aggregate near-term private investment in San Rafael as substantial, with staff identifying roughly half a billion dollars of projected investment in coming years (staff noted this is an extrapolation from project-level construction valuations and not a finalized total).

Sales tax, retail and tourism indicators Officials reviewed three indicators: taxable sales, commercial/industrial property transactions, and tourism receipts. Staff said taxable sales show modest growth but flagged a softening trend locally and regionally. Commercial property transaction values rose about 5.7% and industrial values about 4.2%, according to the presentation. For tourism, the city reported transit-occupancy-tax (TOT) receipts of about $3.5 million in 2025 and noted San Rafael contributes an estimated 43% of hotel-stay revenue to the countywide tourism BID.

Staff cautioned those figures are early and noted limitations in the underlying data; they recommended continued outreach to brokers and coordinated marketing with county partners to grow visitation.

Implementation challenges and next steps Staff repeatedly pointed to capacity and budget constraints. Lauman and finance staff said the city is reviewing infrastructure-financing tools, including an EIFD analysis, and will pursue targeted partnership and county coordination where needed. The report recommended continued work on permitting efficiencies and broker outreach, and it proposed activating an Urban Land Institute technical-assistance panel to shape a downtown vision.

The committee did not take formal action on the strategic-plan update but asked staff to circulate the full slide packet and return with follow-up detail on financing and implementation timelines.