Long Range Planning

The Long-Range Planning Division of the Department is responsible for preparing community development and land use policies, as well as preparing ordinance updates. General Plan updates, Community Plans, and Mobility Plans are some of the frequent policy areas that the division is involved in.

Upcoming Events

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Projects

General Plan Updates
  • San Mateo County Housing Element Update 2023-2031
    San Mateo County is updating its Housing Element.
  • Safety Element
    San Mateo County is updating the County’s Safety Element. The Safety Element is a required component of the County’s General Plan, and recent changes to State law require local jurisdictions to update their safety elements. This project will include updating information and policies related to flooding, fires, evacuations and climate adaptation and resilience. The County’s Safety Element update is part of the Peninsula Resilience Planning Project (PREP), which is a collaborative effort between the County and eight local towns/cities (Atherton, Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay, Pacifica, and San Bruno). To learn more, please visit the project website.
  • Environmental Justice Element
    San Mateo County is creating an Environmental Justice Element for the County’s General Plan. State law requires counties and cities with disadvantaged communities who have recently revised two or more general plan elements to create an environmental justice element. This project is part of the Environmental Justice Elements Planning Initiative, which is a collaborative effort between San Mateo County and the cities of Burlingame and East Palo Alto. To learn more, please visit the project website.
Community Plans
  • North Fair Oaks Rezoning and General Plan Amendment Project & EIR
    Proposed amendments to the CMU and NMU mixed-use residential zoning regulations applicable to various areas of the unincorporated North Fair Oaks community and the possible expansion of the CMU and NMU zoning designations.
  • Plan Princeton
    Plan Princeton is a study being conducted by San Mateo County to update the land use plan for Princeton.
Transportation Plans
Ordinance Updates
  • Tree Ordinances Update Project
    Updates to the Significant and Heritage Tree Removal Regulations and the Planned Agricultural District and Resource Management Zoning Ordinances to improve management of individual trees and tree canopy in the County, and to improve the tree removal and trimming permit process.

Policy Documents

Contact Us

If you have any questions or need information, you can email us.