San Rafael planners accept 2025 housing progress report, public urges fixes to permitting pipeline

The San Rafael Planning Commission on March 10 unanimously accepted the city's 2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report and directed staff to present the report to the City Council for submission to the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

The report, presented by Greg Miner of the Community Economic Development Department, said San Rafael had 576 housing units entitled in calendar year 2025, 33 building permits issued and 179 housing units completed. Miner told the commission that 28 of the 33 building permits issued in 2025 were for accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which in the staff's accounting are typically not deed‑restricted.

The APR is the annual, statutorily required update that documents the city's progress on programs in the General Plan's housing element and tracks the city's share of the regional housing need allocation (RENA) for 2023–2031. Miner said entitlement activity has spiked since 2023 — in part because of the Northgate Mall redevelopment and several large mixed‑use projects — but that entitlement volume has not yet translated into higher construction totals.

"So altogether we had 576 housing units entitled in 2025, 33 building permits issued and then 179 housing units completed," Miner said. "When you look at the 33 building permits, 28 of those were for ADUs."

The staff presentation showed the city is far from meeting RENA targets; a slide summarized that San Rafael is roughly 6.5% of the way toward the statemandated targets across income levels. Staff cautioned that getting entitlements does not guarantee construction: economic factors and construction costs influence whether approved projects proceed.

During public comment, Lizzie Stall, who identified herself as a San Rafael resident and stated she works with Colarin Home, urged the city to prioritize fixing permitting bottlenecks. Stall said the city's publicly listed proposals and approvals overstate the near‑term pipeline and estimated the realistic pipeline is closer to about 2,000 units rather than the roughly 3,000 units on paper.

"There are almost 3,000 units that have been proposed or approved in San Rafael. However, this total includes several projects that now look unlikely to move forward. So, the true pipeline in San Rafael is closer to about 2,000 units," Stall said, urging staff to study the causes of delays and bring permitting timelines in line with jurisdictions that move projects from approval to permit in one to two months.

Commissioners asked staff for clarifications about how the city counts ADUs and junior ADUs (JADUs), how deed restrictions are monitored, and which agencies oversee utility capacity checks. Miner and Planning Manager Margaret Kavanaugh Lynch said deed‑restricted units are typically monitored by the Marin Housing Authority under contract with the city, and that utility and construction timing depend on outside agencies and market forces. Staff said they will follow up on outstanding data requests such as the 2025 PIT homeless count.

A commissioner motion to accept the APR passed unanimously on a roll call; commissioners also provided presentation suggestions, including clearer visuals for public audiences and more geographic distribution analysis of where permitted units are located.

Next steps: staff will present the accepted APR to the City Council and submit required materials to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The commission also signaled it will follow up on permitting‑delay diagnostics and return with answers at the council presentation or in subsequent staff reports.