San Rafael will enter Phase III of the Marin Builders Association's Permit Improvement Program, the association announced Thursday, Sept. 10.

The new phase extends a multi-year effort to speed up and simplify building permits in the city. San Rafael first joined the program in 2018 and completed Phase II in 2022.

Phase III will collect fresh feedback from permit applicants and city employees, review current performance data, compare San Rafael's practices with those in other jurisdictions and develop a new set of recommendations. The association said the work will focus on communication gaps, inconsistent requirements, unnecessary delays and unnecessary costs.

"Efficient and predictable permitting is essential to meeting our community's housing, sustainability, resilience, and economic goals," Rick Wells, chief executive officer of the Marin Builders Association, said in the announcement.

The program brings together city staff, contractors, design professionals and property owners. Earlier phases used surveys, focus groups, interviews and best-practices research to measure the permit experience. Phase II and later rounds extend that work into internal city processes, using data and interview findings to identify bottlenecks.

The association launched the broader Permit Improvement Program in 2017 in partnership with local governments and the now-defunct Marin Economic Forum. One original goal was increasing compliance with local building laws and reducing unpermitted work. San Rafael was the first municipality to sign on. Since then, the County of Marin, Novato, Tiburon and San Anselmo have all participated. Marin County completed its own Phase III earlier in 2025.

San Anselmo is simultaneously entering Phase II under the same announcement. The association represents more than 640 construction and construction-related businesses across Marin County and the North Bay.

No timeline for completing San Rafael's Phase III has been announced. The city has not publicly commented on the new phase. Updates will be posted to marinbuilders.com as work progresses, the association said.