One of the smallest municipalities in Solano County has taken a step that may enable California Forever, the billionaire-backed plan to build a new city between San Francisco and Sacramento, to move forward without approval from the rural county’s voters.
Suisun City, which spans about four square miles south of Fairfield, voted last week to explore annexing unincorporated county land outside the city’s border which includes a large part of the nearly 60,000 acres that were acquired by California Forever investors aiming to build a new walkable, mixed-use city from scratch.
If approved, the annexation could shift part of the development from county to city land and circumvent California’s Orderly Growth Initiative, which requires major developments on unincorporated county land to be approved by county voters, the San Francisco Business Times reported.
In July, a referendum to approve the California Forever initiative was pulled from the November ballot in the face of mounting opposition.
In a joint announcement with the Solano County Board of Supervisors, California Forever agreed in July to submit an application for a general plan and zoning amendment, including a full environmental impact report, and negotiate a development agreement for the project with the county, postponing a referendum until 2026 at the earliest.
California Forever is the dream of former Goldman Sachs trader Jan Sramek and his financial backers, a bevy of Silicon Valley tech billionaires including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs.
Operating under the name Flannery Associates during a five-year land acquisition binge that began in 2017, California Forever spent $900M to acquire about 55K acres of rural land in the eastern part of Solano County near Travis Air Force Base.
Suisun City officials said they are exploring expanding the city’s border to “build a brighter future for our community.” The city currently has a population of about 26,000 residents.
“At only four square miles, we are Solano County’s smallest city,” said city Bret Prebula. “Our surrounding cities have grown over time, increasing jobs, tax revenue, business investment, housing options and recreational amenities. We now have the opportunity to explore a similar path for our city.”
In plans put forward early last year, California Forever envisioned a community of up to 400,000 residents, promising to build affordable, medium-density housing and offering millions of dollars in community benefits, including down-payment assistance and scholarships.
A spokesperson for California Forever told The Business Times that “if we receive an invitation to explore annexation by Suisun City, we would be open to a conversation.”
An opponent of the California Forever project suggested that the city and the project’s backers already are working together.
“The city manager’s verbiage is exactly like California Forever, everything he says sounds like all their stuff. It’s like this has all been systematically set up,” Michelle Trippi, organizer of an online opposition group calling itself California ForNever, told Politico.
Source: GlobeSt/ALM