Real estate development company California Forever withdrew the East Solano Homes, Jobs, and Clean Energy Initiative for a proposed sustainable city in Solano County from the November 2024 ballot on July 22.
The group now aims to conduct further analysis on the project’s potential impacts as locals raised concerns over the new community’s environmental, economic and security consequences.
Outlined in the East Solano Plan website, the proposed city aims to feature “middle class homes in safe, walkable neighborhoods,” in a community powered by renewable energy and producing jobs and housing for its residents.
In addition to the preservation of natural habitats, California Forever promises prospective residents scholarships for college students, vocational recruits and entrepreneurs as well as investments in agriculture and public parks. Other guarantees include a sustainable lagoon intended to be an alternative to a beach, a sports complex for all ages and solar farms designed to enhance the city’s agriculture and preserve its wilderness.
“We’re trying to make sure that the Bay Area remains this place of innovation and creation for the next 50 years,” CEO and founder of California Forever Jan Sramek said in an interview with Bloomberg. “This is the first time in the history of America where the ‘place of opportunity’ in the country is losing families, and particularly working families, because [they] can’t afford to live here.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, California Forever began its first steps for the East Solano Plan in 2018 by secretly acquiring large areas of land surrounding the Travis Air Force Base through its subsidiary, Flannery Associates. Individuals behind the limited liability corporation were unknown at the time because it was registered in Delaware, where owners are not required to publicly disclose their identities. Over the course of six years, more than 62,000 acres were purchased for approximately $1 billion, leading to national security concerns from local and federal officials.
In August 2023, the New York Times reported the identities of the investors who backed California Forever’s land purchases and its project to create a sustainable community in Solano County. The investors included prominent figures in Silicon Valley such as venture capitalist Michael Moritz, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Laurene Powell Jobs of Emerson Collective and others. According to their representative Brian Brokaw, these figures believed in the prospect of a better future for Solano County and helped fund the purchase of large portions of land, for which the company reportedly bought for values much above market values.
Within the same month, Flannery representatives made their plans public with a website dedicated to the project.
To allow more time for analysis of the project’s impacts, California Forever announced the initiative’s removal from the ballot in a joint statement between Sramek and chair of Solano County’s Board of Supervisors Mitch Mashburn. According to the statement, California Forever and Solano County will collaborate as the project aims to follow the standard route set by the county. As a part of this process, California Forever will complete an Environmental Impact Report and achieve a Development Agreement with Solano County.
“[Removing the measure] creates opportunities to incorporate additional community input, and then provide everyone with access to objective analysis, and the full terms of the Development Agreement, including the community benefits,” Sramek said. “We believe that with this process, we can build a shared vision that passes with a decisive majority and creates broad consensus for the future.”
Member of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. John Garamendi, who represents the 8th congressional district of California — including Solano County — spoke to NBC on the land acquisitions and the role of the Travis Air Force Base.
“These characters own all the land on three sides of Travis. And that’s one of the most important air bases in the continental United States. More material and personnel pass through that base than any other base,” Garamendi said.
In addition to his concern regarding the Air Force base’s security, Garamendi takes issue with the methods the companies used to acquire land.
“These characters have been engaged in despicable, secretive, terrible practices. They are actually suing farmers who refuse to sell their family heritage,” Garamendi said.
In March 2023, Flannery Associates initiated a lawsuit against landowners in Solano County, accusing them of price-fixing and collusion to raise prices illegally or prevent the company from buying land. Under Section One of the Sherman Antitrust Act, price-fixing is a federal crime.
California Forever was also accused of employing misleading signature-gathering practices in creating a petition for California’s November ballot in 2024, which Fairfield Mayor Catherine Moy described as “alarming” in an interview with CBS News. In response to city and county leaders’ allegations, the California Forever campaign released an example of the petition and claimed the document “clearly identifies California Forever as the funder of the initiative.”
“Opponents of the East Solano Homes, Jobs, and Clean Energy Initiative have been spreading misinformation regarding the petition currently in circulation that would qualify the measure for this November’s election,” the California Forever campaign said to CBS News.
Solano Together, a coalition formed in opposition to the East Solano Plan, criticized the project for its potential consequences on locals, ecosystems and economic structures and called it “disconnected” from the county’s communities. In a statement released on their website on July 22, they attributed the withdrawal of the ballot measure to a failure in gathering the support of voters.
“Instead of taking the time to deeply engage in a transparent process of what [the California Forever] proposal means to the county, they decided to deceive the public to try and get the initiative passed,” Solano Together stated.
According to Mashburn, postponing the vote for the East Solano initiative is an opportunity for the project to build trust between California Forever and Solano County communities.
“Delaying the vote gives everyone a chance to pause and work together, which is what is needed — not a fight between friends throughout the County on both sides of the issue,” Mashburn said in the July 22 joint statement.
East Solano Plan stakeholders will work on community engagement to address concerns, including impacts on local residents and ecological systems, according to their website. California Forever aims to submit the Environmental Impact Report and Development Agreement to Solano County for approval in 2026.
Mariam Farag is a News Intern for the summer 2024 quarter. She can be reached at msfarag@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon.
