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7 City of San Mateo
2026 Draft Strategic Plan
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7 Executive Summary
San Mateo’s first citywide Strategic Plan is a tool to aid in the implementation and prioritization of the City’s ten major Strategic Initiatives, which represent the City’s Values and overall Mission. This Strategic Plan incorporates extensive community feedback collected since 2018, and will serve as a foundational document to help achieve a shared vision of the City’s future.
The Strategic Plan will:
Offer a comprehensive framework for City Council to use when making decisions for both immediate and long-term priorities. Allow the City to move in an intentional, strategic direction over a longer timeframe. Act as a tool to implement planning documents already adopted by Council in a systematic way. Integrate with the City’s budget and Capital Improvement Plan processes. Help the City use its resources with the utmost efficiency and impact with budget constraints in mind. Be updated as needed to remain relevant to the community.
The following inclusive engagement of diverse perspectives helped shaped and inform the Strategic Plan:
Community Opinion Survey: In February 2025, the City of San Mateo conducted a statistically significant Community Opinion Survey to understand its residents’ satisfaction, priorities, opinions, and concerns as they relate to city services, facilities, and policies. The results provided Council and staff with an analysis of San Mateo’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Community Conversations: The City held a series of meetings with diverse groups to gather community input that helped inform priorities and challenges for the City of San Mateo’s underserved populations. Based on Census 2022 data, the Latino, Black, and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities represent 55% of the population and have historical underrepresentation and low participation rates in local government initiatives. These Community Conversations enabled the City to hear from these underrepresented groups and their input was incorporated into the Strategic Plan.
General Plan 2040: From 2018 to 2024, the City developed its General Plan 2040 document. It lays out the community’s vision for how San Mateo will look, feel, and change over the next 15 years. Throughout the development of this document, the City conducted extensive community engagement to understand the community’s thoughts on their values and vision for the future throughout the City and on a variety of topics, which were then critically analyzed and presented to a special General Plan Subcommittee, the Planning Commission, and the City Council for adoption.
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7 At their March 14, 2025, half-day workshop, the City Council selected 10 Strategic Initiatives as the key focus areas for this Strategic Plan, and these were developed based on the community feedback heard through the Community Opinion Survey, the General Plan 2040 development process, the Community Conversations, and the budget development process.
Mission and Values
Mission:
Cultivate a vibrant, safe community through collaboration, innovation, and sustainability.
Values:
Prosperity: Cultivating a diverse and thriving economy with different types of homes, jobs, recreation, lifelong learning opportunities, and services for both current and future generations.
Inclusivity: Striving to include everyone in community life and decisions for a shared, sustainable future.
Diversity: Embracing diversity, arts, and culture, and respecting the experiences, contributions, and aspirations of people of all ages, abilities, incomes, and backgrounds.
Resiliency: Leading in sustainability, making San Mateo strong and resilient by acting boldly to adapt to a changing world.
Integrity: Ensuring transparency and accountability for our actions. 1 2
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7 Strategic Initiatives:
Climate Resiliency Infrastructure
Transportation Housing
Economic Development Healthy Community for All Ages
Public Safety Land Use
Organizational Health and Good Governance Community Engagement and Communications Priority Initiatives Fiscal Year 2026/27
Climate Resiliency
Infrastructure
Transportation
Housing
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Priority Initiative
Climate Resiliency
Proactively address a changing climate through the City’s policies, projects, activities, and programs.
Goals
Create a comprehensive climate resilience strategy to account for climate change impacts. Implement the Climate Action Plan to meet greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Continuously evaluate opportunities to incorporate climate resilience into new City policies, projects, activities, and programs. Actively and continuously seek funding opportunities and partnerships to support climate resiliency needs.
Priority Initiative
Infrastructure
Maintain and continuously improve a resilient and sustainable City infrastructure system to meet the needs of all members of the community and plan for our continued vibrancy as the city grows.
Goals
Create and implement an infrastructure management program for critical assets that includes proactive assessment, maintenance, and repair.
Plan for the future of City infrastructure based on the changing needs of the community and with a focus on equity, accessibility, resiliency, and sustainability.
Actively and continuously seek funding opportunities and partnerships to support infrastructure needs. 1 2
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7 Priority Initiative
Transportation
Maintain and continuously improve a safe, multimodal, accessible, and efficient transportation network.
Goals
Work toward a transportation system that prioritizes user safety, accommodates future growth, and maintains efficient and safe operations for all users.
Seek funding opportunities and partnerships that accelerate transportation project implementation. Pursue initiatives that increase access to transit, improve east-west travel, and expand last mile connections.
Priority Initiative
Housing
Support all forms of housing and achieve greater housing equity and access for all residents.
Goals
Implement the Housing Element to affirmatively further fair housing, meet the City’s housing allocation, and retain certification. Strategically deploy housing funds and leverage outside funding and partnerships to meet the housing needs of the community. Focus on identifying and taking local actions that can contribute to reducing overall housing costs. 1 2
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7 Strategic Initiative
Economic Development
Create an environment that supports a thriving and diverse economy with opportunities that meet the needs of the entire community.
Goals
Attract and retain a wide range of businesses to create a robust economy that supports employment opportunities within the San Mateo community and provides robust and predictable revenues. Create vibrant commercial areas Citywide by improving the customer experience, developing partnerships, and exploring creative enhancement opportunities.
Strategic Initiative
Healthy Community for All Ages
Create and promote an environment that empowers all community members to thrive.
Goals
Seek opportunities for City services and programs to support people of all ages and abilities for their mental, emotional, physical, and social well-being.
Ensure greater access to the systems that support healthier lifestyles and increase well-being throughout all neighborhoods with a focus on equity priority communities.
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Strategic Initiative
Public Safety
Provide a safe and secure quality of life through professional and proactive police and fire services, and effectively prepare for future emergencies.
Goals
Provide fire and emergency services through professionalism, collaboration, and public trust. Proactively protect and promote safety and well-being, with a focus on mental health, while serving San Mateo residents, businesses, and visitors.
Develop a comprehensive approach to emergency preparedness.
Strategic Initiative
Land Use
Utilize the General Plan 2040 to guide policy and permitting decisions that shape the physical environment.
Goals
Complete a comprehensive Zoning Code update to implement the policies and actions in the General Plan 2040. Update the City’s specific and area plans to be consistent with the City’s General Plan 2040. 1 2
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Strategic Initiative
Organizational Health and Good Governance
Promote a high-performing and resilient organization by upholding the highest standards of integrity, customer service, and fiscal responsibility to effectively serve the community.
Goals
Efficiently and effectively manage the City’s resources to support financial health, operate with transparency, and provide services that are responsive to the community’s needs.
Continuously support our employees’ professional development and wellness, and foster a healthy culture that attracts and retains a talented, innovative, and accountable workforce.
Strategic Initiative
Community Engagement and Communications
Build community by empowering the public to be informed and involved.
Goals
Provide an accessible avenue for everyone in the community to have the ability to participate, be heard, and see the impact of their contributions.
Inform, educate, and encourage feedback from all community stakeholders, and continue to learn and improve based on the community’s needs.