A controversial plan backed by Silicon Valley billionaires to build a utopian city from scratch in Solano County took a leap forward this week, with the proposal qualifying to go before county voters on the November ballot.
The “California Forever” project has divided county residents, with some applauding its promise of jobs and housing, and others opposing it over loss of agricultural land and the approach by its proponents, who spent years buying thousands of acres in secrecy then launched a $510 million lawsuit accusing holdout property owners of “endless greed.”
On Tuesday, the Solano County Registrar of Voters announced that California Forever’s proposal to amend the county plan and rezone more than 17,000 acres for development had gathered enough signatures to go before voters in November. Ads pitching the project describe an idyllic community of “walkable, middle class neighborhoods that we can afford.”
Solano County supervisors now have three choices, according to John Gardner, assistant registrar of voters for the county. They could adopt the plan at a June 25 meeting, so it would go ahead without a ballot measure. They could vote to put the initiative on the ballot. Or they could order a report assessing effects of the project.
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The third option, requiring a report to supervisors within 30 days, would give them more information, possibly about matters such as effects on land use or taxes, to help them make a more informed decision, Gardner said.
But then supervisors must still choose between adopting the initiative unchanged or putting it on the ballot, also unaltered, Gardner said.
The project was launched, quietly, in 2017, led by former Wall Street trader Jan Sramek. Its financial backers include billionaire venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Michael Moritz, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and businesswoman Laurene Powell Jobs.
Marketing materials show Mediterranean-style communities California Forever says should provide homes for 50,000 people by late in the 2030s. The company is also promising 15,000 local jobs paying more than $88,000 a year, plus $200 million for revitalizing downtowns in the county, and down-payment assistance for buyers.
A February report by Solano County’s legal department said the full environmental impacts of a new city, and its financial feasibility, could not be known until after it went before voters.