San Rafael aims to simplify project tracking for residents
October 9, 2025
By Adrian Rodriguez | arodriguez@marinij.com | Marin Independent Journal
UPDATED: September 24, 2025 at 5:21 PM PDT
San Rafael officials are consolidating Canal neighborhood planning projects into a central database in an effort to relieve an overwhelmed public.
Officials said that over the past 10 years there have been 20 plans laying out 715 initiatives that affect the Canal area. Of those planning projects, six are actively being developed.
Residents told city officials they’ve grown tired of participating in meetings, contributing comments and attempting to track progress on the efforts.
The new digital database is designed to report back to the community on the status of initiatives and explain what work still needs to be done and why.
City leaders got a first look at the project at its Sept. 15 meeting.
“The challenge isn’t a lack of planning. It’s that we often have too many plans,” Mayor Kate Colin said. “The real work is learning how to figure how do we bring those plans together, prioritize them with community input and make sure they’re aligned with funding so they can be carried out.”
The project began last year after Colin was selected as one of seven mayors across the country to participate in a program of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design. The program, called the Just City Fellowship, is a collaboration of the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Just City Lab.
The program emphasized the risks of traditional, top-down urban planning and highlighted the importance of resident-led engagement practices.
Colin said the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the inequities experienced by residents in the Canal neighborhood, and it was one of the key reasons she applied for the fellowship.
“We examined how to change entrenched systems that create racial, economic and social barriers and how to build cities where everyone can thrive,” Colin said. “What that means, very simply, is recognizing that the status quo doesn’t work for everyone.”
Colin said she wanted to ensure that San Rafael could learn from the moment and do better.
To that end, the city hired James Lima Planning and Development, a consulting firm, to produce a progress report and database on a $75,000 contract.
The project was developed in collaboration with city and county staff and Canal Alliance, a nonprofit that provides Latino and immigrant services.
The project synthesizes the 20 plans into six topic areas: housing development and anti-displacement; transportation and mobility; economic mobility and development; climate resilience and environmental justice; parks and public spaces, and health and public safety.
It then breaks down initiatives by topic area. The project team distilled the 715 initiatives into 554 that specifically align with community priorities in east San Rafael, said Isabella Conway, project manager.
A draft report is expected to be submitted to the city in October for review. The final report and database are expected to be available in January.
Conway said that the database would be published online and accessible to anyone. It will also be helpful for city officials who are developing plans, Conway said.
Residents can also go to the database to track progress on initiatives in any of the topic areas with abilities to broaden or narrow their search, she said.
“This tool is grounded in transparency,” Conway said. “We want everyone to be able to use this tool themselves and see the status updates.”
Diana Benitez, a planner at Canal Alliance, worked on the project.
“This is really a pivotal moment: We have so many efforts aligning to help Canal residents thrive,” Benitez said. “This helps provide us a clearer picture of what has moved forward and where gaps remain across past planning efforts. And it’s a really big deal that we are taking the time to re-examine past plans and are asking why some things haven’t moved forward, and we’re really holding ourselves accountable and being transparent.”
City Manager Cristine Alilovich said that while the focus of the project is on eastern San Rafael and the Canal neighborhood, its impact is much broader.
Alilovich said the lessons officials are learning will shape how they engage communities across the city.
“We are focused on increasing transparency and accountability by reporting back on what we’ve accomplished, the challenges we’ve faced, and why some community priorities have yet to be addressed,” Alilovich said. “Our ultimate goal is simple but powerful, to be the most responsive we can be.”
