The master-planned community would encourage walkable neighborhoods and likely offer more affordable housing options in the Bay Area
A startup city backed by Bay Area billionaires that pushed for fast-track approval has hit a speed bump.
California’s Forever’s East Solano Plan to develop a new city with as many as 400,000 residents about an hour from San Francisco will undergo an extensive environmental impact review and negotiate and execute a draft agreement with Solano County before moving forward.
The announcement – just hours before county supervisors were expected to approve a measure and place the controversial and high-profile project on the November ballot – could delay the plan at least two years.
The decision comes a week after a county-commissioned report estimated the proposed master-planned community would require at least tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment. The about-face also follows a recently released Impact Research poll that found fewer than half (48%) of likely voters support the project.
‘AN OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT THE PLAN’
County Board Chairman Mitch Mashburn said California Forever’s effort to move forward on a ballot measure before an environmental impact report and development agreement for the East Solano Plan was “a mistake.”
“This politicized the entire project, made it difficult for us and our staff to work with them, and forced everyone in our community to take sides,” he says. “Delaying the vote gives everyone a chance to pause and work together. It also creates an opportunity to take a fresh look at the plan and incorporate input from more stakeholders.”
California Forever – whose investors include LinkedIn founder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman and Emerson Collective founder Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs – bought $900 million of farmland near Travis Air Force Base in recent years without disclosing its plan. The secrecy caused concern and criticism from some community leaders and many residents.
A mix of home types and prices is part of the East Solano Plan. COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA FOREVER
But the company has become more open during the past several months, detailing an ambitious timeline and a far-reaching plan to establish a new city, possibly larger than the master-planned communities of Irvine or Santa Clarita (also known as Valencia).
‘OPPORTUNITY HAS BEGUN TO SLIP AWAY’
If approved, California Forever would develop a new kind of city, with an abundance of affordable housing, the creation of good-paying jobs at new companies, and where many residents ride bikes or walk to grocery stores, schools, shopping centers and to work. Sheep would share fields with energy-generating solar panels, and nature trails and open space would be available throughout much of the community.
California Forever CEO Jan Sramek would like to break ground as soon as possible – and avoid the lengthy delays of development – to help meet the critical need for more housing in the state, especially in the Bay Area. California needs at least 2.5 million more homes within the next few years.
“California has stopped building, and as a result, that optimism and opportunity has begun to slip away,” says Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader. “We build a fraction of the homes every year that we built in the 1970s, despite our population growth. We make companies go through five years of planning and environmental review to open one factory, so they move to Arizona instead, and take their jobs with them.”
FASTER APPROVAL OF DEVELOPMENT COULD CUT HOME PRICES
If California could approve construction projects faster, it would cut costs, increase the number of homes available and likely reduce home prices, some economists and housing leaders say.
Affordability is a big concern from Eureka to San Diego.
Fewer than one of every five Californians could afford to buy the median-priced home in the state during the first quarter, and only 26% in Solano County, a more affordable destination for those working in the Bay Area, according to the California Association of Realtors. Solano County buyers need a household income of almost $150,000 to qualify for a mortgage with a 20% down payment.
“We cannot solve our jobs, housing and energy challenges if every project takes a decade more to break ground,” agrees Mashburn.
The new city would include housing, commercial development, major shopping centers, schools and entertainment districts. COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA FOREVER
But he adds that California Forever’s “timing has been unrealistic” for the East Solano Plan.
While the agreement between Forever California and the county could delay the plan at least two years, Sramek remains hopeful that the measure to seek approval from residents could land on the ballot in November 2026. Then, California Forever could help residents achieve the California Dream.
“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,” he says.
