San Mateo is looking far into the future to find ways to address its growing aging population.

Currently, those in San Mateo 50 or older comprise about 35 percent of San Mateo’s population and the number is growing, according to an Aging Well report commissioned by the Parks and Recreation Department.

By 2017, those in the city 50 and older will make up 37.4 percent of the population with the largest growth being those between 60 and 69.

The overall population of the city is projected to grow by less than 2 percent from 2000 to 2017 but the 50-plus population is expected to increase by 25 percent — a growth rate that is nearly 14 times faster than the population as a whole.

The projected population for those aged 60 to 69, however, will see an astounding population increase of 66 percent, according to the Aging Well report.

This fact has motivated the city to find ways to accommodate the growing group in the coming years. The Parks and Recreation Department commissioned the $75,000 report nearly two years and the next step, or phase 2, is to develop strategies, policies and programs for both the city and the larger community to establish San Mateo as an “aging friendly” community using the Aging Well report as a blueprint to guide the process.

However, the city’s dire financial straits leaves it without the ability to implement phase 2 at this time, prompting Parks and Recreation Director Sheila Canzian to find ways to bring the broader community into the mix.

San Mateo Councilman John Lee and Senior Commission Chair Linda Miller invited a broad range of people from neighboring cities, the county, the state and nonprofit groups that provide services for seniors to a workshop at the San Mateo Senior Center yesterday to help map out a plan to accommodate the growing aging community.

“This is not intended to be a city plan,” Canzian said. “It is not intended to task the city to find solutions to the problems. Instead, it is a community plan. It should be a guide for the community of San Mateo in a larger sense.”

The Aging Well report, “An Innovative Approach to Assessing Seniors’ Needs in the Community” highlights the services available to San Mateo seniors compared to those on a national level and surveys the quality of services currently available.

The report was prepared by Richard Adler of the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, who spoke at yesterday’s event.

The lowest-rated amenities for seniors in San Mateo, according to the report, include ease of bus travel, affordable and quality mental health care and affordable housing.

Yesterday’s group was tasked with helping to find ways to improve these amenities over the course of the coming years.

Canzian wants to leverage partnerships in the community because one organization cannot solve the problem by itself, she said.

“We don’t have any planning money, frankly,” Canzian said. “We have a very nice report but we don’t want it to sit on the shelf and nothing ever happens with it.”

After the nearly three-hour discussion and workshop, the group concluded a broader range of senior advocate groups that operate separately in the county should be brought together to tackle the issues as a whole.

San Mateo Senior Commissioner Melodie Lew called yesterday’s workshop a good first step in establishing the city as an aging-friendly community.

More workshops are planned in the future with the hope of opening up the dialogue in other cities to eventually create a broader-based approach to solving the transportation, housing and social needs of seniors — a population that is growing faster than any other.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by e-mail: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.