California Forever – Enviro Updates

California Forever plan for new city of 400,000 divides Solano County

March 21, 2026

Glen Martin, BAY CITY NEWS

The two men stood near a rickety barbed wire fence by state Highway 12 between Suisun City and Rio Vista in Solano County, looking east over a vast tract of gently rolling rangeland.

California Forever is located between Travis Air Force Base and Rio Vista in Solano County — California Forever location.

In the summer, this sprawling property will be sere and brown. But now, freshened by heavy winter rains, it is intensely green. Wetlands dot the landscape, some supporting Canada geese and mallard ducks dabbling in the water. Northern harriers and red-tailed hawks cruise overhead, seeking mice and voles in the grasses and emerging wildflowers below.

Both men admired the view. But Jim DeKloe, a biology professor at Solano Community College, and John Harter, the owner of Waterfront Comics in Suisun City, have different visions for the property.

To DeKloe, the land is fine just as it is: a spectacular open space burgeoning with wildlife and supporting rare ecosystems such as vernal pools and native grasslands. Harter, on the other hand, shares the dream of Flannery Associates, a group of wealthy investors led by Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader. Flannery — and Harter — want to see this 100-square-mile parcel developed. They hope to see a new city rising here, one that will ultimately support 400,000 residents at full build-out.

The project is called California Forever, and for three years it has pitted the residents of Solano County against each other. What started off as an acrimonious flame war between supporters and detractors has now settled into a grinding battle of attrition.

Habitats, Land UseCalifornia Forever, Delta, Solano County

A hunger for answers on California Forever’s environmental impacts

March 4, 2026

Tanvi Dutta Gupta, BAY NATURE

It’s been two and a half years since news emerged of a tech-billionaire-backed idea to put a 400,000-person city in Solano County, and a lot of big questions remain—as indicated by the 616 pages of public comments just on the notice that an environmental impact report was coming.

After California Forever pulled a controversial ballot measure that would have put the development in voters’ hands, the project kept moving forward. Now the project has been reimagined as an expansion of tiny, broke Suisun City, and California Forever has officially begun preparing the environmental impact report people first asked for two years ago. It will be the first comprehensive look at what the massive development could mean for nature in southeastern Solano County.

The public comments, submitted by 38 individuals or groups, offer feedback on the environmental impact report’s notice of preparation, or NOP, a step that lets government agencies and members of the public chime in about what they want to see in the draft report. Project developers must address these comments in the report to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. But such comments rarely attract much public interest: Jim Bermudez, deputy city manager for Suisun City, says in his 25 years of experience in city permitting, he’s “never really been down that road.”

The area for the proposed urban and industrial development is part of the larger Jepson Prairie ecosystem, home to California’s last remaining claypan vernal pools, and one of the few remaining rural corners of the Bay Area in a state where agricultural land is on the decline. California Forever told Bay Nature over email that its development will be “the most sustainable city in the United States.”

Habitats, Land UseCalifornia Forever, Delta, Jepson Prairie ecosystem

Billionaire backers of new Solano County city reveal map and details of proposed development

January 17, 2024

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The company backed by Silicon Valley billionaires that for years stealthily snapped up more than $800 million worth of rural land for a new walkable, affordable and green city between San Francisco and Sacramento now needs voters to embrace the idea.

Jan Sramek, the former Goldman Sachs trader spearheading the effort, will speak Wednesday about his plans to create a walkable California city flush with affordable housing and jobs on what’s now mostly farmland. His California Forever company needs approval from Solano County voters to bypass protections put in place in 1984 to keep agricultural land from being turned into urban space.

He’ll reveal ballot language that will provide the most detailed look yet of the community envisioned by he and his billionaire backers, like philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. If the group can secure 13,000 signatures from Solano County voters, the measure will go before voters this November.

They picture 20,000 homes for 50,000 residents between Travis Air Force Base and the tiny city of Rio Vista, with rowhouses and apartment buildings within walking distance to jobs, schools, bars, restaurants and grocery stores. Eventually the city could grow to 400,000 people, the group says, but only if it can create at least 15,000 jobs that pay above average wages.

Created in 2017, California Forever has purchased more than 78 square miles (202 square kilometers) of farmland in Solano County. The plan calls for $400 million to help Solano County residents buy homes in the proposed community.

Habitats, Land UseCalifornia Forever, Delta