A chance for a new community, good paying local jobs, solar farms, and open space
Solano County sits at the crossroads of Northern California. Nestled
between Sacramento, the Delta, San Francisco, and Napa Valley, Solano
perfectly captures the diversity of California’s landscapes and its
people. It is the home of agriculture and green energy industries that
sustainably feed and power our state, strong middle-class communities,
and our nation’s busiest Air Force base. Eastern Solano County is also
an area ready for a new community. We’re excited to tell our story.
California Forever is the parent company of Flannery Associates. Over
the last few years, Flannery has purchased over 50,000 acres in Solano
County. To date, our company has been quiet about our activities. This
has, understandably, created interest, concern, and speculation. Now
that we’re no longer limited by confidentiality, we are eager to begin
a conversation about the future of Solano County – a conversation with
all of you. Like much of our state, Solano County faces many
challenges – but also presents countless opportunities. Over the past
few years, we have completed surveys and interviews with about 2,000
residents of Solano County and your voices were clear. Residents want
more opportunities to buy homes in safe, walkable communities. Good
paying local jobs, so they can both live and work in the county.
Better funding to improve schools, promote public safety, and reduce
homelessness, as well as resources to invest in infrastructure for
transportation, water, and wildfire protection.
Last month, 81% of Solano parents we surveyed said that their kids
won’t be able to find a future in their own neighborhood when they
grow up.
These challenges often have separate, unrelated causes. But they could
share a common solution. Instead of watching our kids leave, we have
the opportunity to build a new community that attracts new employers,
creates good paying local jobs, builds homes in walkable
neighborhoods, leads in environment stewardship, and fuels a growing
tax base to serve the county at large. And, Solano has the right
location for a project like this in the eastern part of the county.
The area today.
This is not just our idea. In the past, when preparing long-range
plans for the Bay Area, the Association of Bay Area Governments
(“Regional Plan 1970-1990”) and the U.S. Department of Commerce
(“Future Development of the San Francisco Bay Area, 1960-2020”) both
concluded that to keep our region affordable, prosperous, and
balanced, new industries and communities could be built in eastern
Solano. The area had low fire risk, access to water, and was
strategically located in the middle of the larger Northern California
region. All that remains true today.
Let’s dust off those plans,
and breathe new life into them.
California Forever was founded in 2017 by our CEO, Jan Sramek. After
moving to California a decade ago, Jan spent time in Solano County
during fishing trips on the California Delta and fell in love with the
area. Having previously lived in many of the world’s most walkable,
livable, and sustainable towns and cities, Jan became interested in
fusing what he learned about those livable communities with those old
plans for eastern Solano. He became committed to a vision for the
future of Solano County. Jan and his wife Naytri recently purchased
their first-ever home in Solano, and they are excited to live here
with their toddler daughter, her soon-to-arrive little brother, and
golden retriever Bruce.
This idea of building a new community and economic opportunity in
eastern Solano seemed impossible on the surface, but after spending a
lot of time learning about Solano and its people, Jan became convinced
that with a thoughtful design, the right long-term patient investors,
and strong partnerships with all stakeholders, there would be an
opportunity to build a remarkable place for Solano residents, both
current and the many generations to come.
To make sure we could do this right, our company raised capital from
people who shared our long-term vision and belief that California’s
best days are still ahead. Investors in California Forever include
Marc Andreessen, Patrick and John Collison, Chris Dixon, John Doerr,
Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Reid Hoffman, Michael Moritz, Laurene
Powell Jobs, and the California investment firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Our company is committed to Solano and this project for the long term.
Over the past few years, we have purchased over 50,000 acres in
eastern Solano County, between Fairfield and Rio Vista. California
Forever owns about half of the properties in this area. Other
landowners own the remaining half. Our project would not change the
zoning of other landowners’ properties – they would remain zoned for
agriculture, and those landowners would be able to continue their
agricultural operations. In addition, on our lands, the project would
include a variety of land uses – a new community, but also solar farms
and open space, including both agriculture and habitat conservation.
Our project would protect and support Travis Air Force Base, including
by respecting Solano County’s official Travis Reserve Area, which is a
security buffer for the protection of Travis Air Force base
established by Solano County in its General Plan, and subsequently clarified through a recent ordinance.
With the land and team assembled, we are excited to finally close
this first chapter and begin the phase of our work that matters most:
our conversation with you.
Next, a conversation
This is the beginning of our decades-long collaboration with Solano’s
residents, elected officials and agencies, as well as the many Solano
stakeholders, including Travis Air Force Base, labor, business,
agriculture, educators, police, fire, conservation, and many others.
To start, we are meeting with the elected representatives of Solano
County. Second, so that we hear from each of you directly, we will be
mailing a survey to every Solano household. Third, we are forming a
Community Advisory Board of Solano citizens. Please send any
nominations to
community@californiaforever.com. Finally, we are working on opening offices in Vallejo, Fairfield
and Vacaville, and will announce the locations once open. Visit us in
person.
This is a project that must be not just designed with, but also
approved by, all Solano residents. Solano County’s Orderly Growth
Measure directs development into cities, and asks that new projects
outside of cities be submitted to the voters for approval. We fully
support these principles, and we will ultimately ask the voters to
approve the project. The Orderly Growth Measure is the right
approach to safeguard Solano, including our project, from sprawl and
disorderly growth for many years to come.
California was built on its pioneering spirit, its boundless
optimism, and the utter conviction that if we work hard, and
together, that our best days still lie ahead, waiting to be built,
for our children, and their children, and for all the generations to
come. California Forever is committed to building a place that
embodies these ideals. Join us.
Design principles
Ultimately, this is about practical ways to improve the day-to-day
lives of the people who already, or will one day, live in Solano
County. We are committed to five principles about what to build, and
what to protect based on our conversations with the people of
Solano.
Create good paying local jobs, and paths to get those jobs, for Solano’s residents.
This project can bring new employers to Solano, and independently create thousands of permanent, good-paying local jobs in construction, energy, services, and other industries. We are also interested in building trade schools and other educational paths that help Solano residents learn the skills they need to get those new jobs and build long-lasting careers
Build walkable neighborhoods and new paths to homeownership.
Our goal is to build homes of different sizes and price points integrated in the same walkable neighborhoods, with homes, shopping, dining, and schools all within walking distance. We are also interested in exploring new paths to homeownership for Solano residents through down-payment assistance programs and other solutions
Help solve regional infrastructure needs, including energy, transportation, water, and wildfire protection.
Eastern Solano benefits from existing transmission lines that could make it possible to build a large solar farm that creates hundreds of jobs and accelerates California’s transition to clean energy. Improvements to Highway 12 could make it safer and less congested. The North Bay Aqueduct needs major upgrades to deliver cleaner and more reliable water to over 400,000 people in Solano and Napa counties. Solano’s rural fire districts need more money to keep communities safe from wildfires. We cannot solve any of these issues on our own, but we want to be part of larger regional solutions.
Protect and support Travis Air Force Base.
Travis Air Force Base is critical to both our national security and to Solano County. We fully support its mission and always will. For example, when California Water Service and Travis were building a new water pipeline to Travis in 2021 and asked us to sell them a right of way for the pipeline, we immediately offered to donate the right of way for free instead. We are just beginning our dialogue with Travis about the right safeguards, but we are committed to respecting its boundaries both on the ground and in the air. We also hope to work with the Air Force in other ways, including by helping provide homes to base personnel, and training and career options for veterans.
Protect Solano’s open space and prime agricultural lands.
Solano County has a long history of city-centered growth. We believe building a compact community away from prime agricultural lands, surrounded by open space, is the best way to achieve that objective. Many nearby landowners are committed to agriculture, and have told us they do not want to sell or develop their properties. Their properties will, along with some of our properties, form this agricultural green belt around the new community.
Frequently Asked Questions
Solano County fire hazard severity zone map.
Any approved project will provide new fire protection services, including state of the art equipment and new fire response personnel to meet all applicable fire protection standards for the project and other communities in the county.”]}],[0,{“id”:[0,”intro-7″],”title”:[0,”What about water?”],”content”:[0,”There is no path to building a new town without securing adequate water supplies. We anticipate that water for an approved project would consist of multiple sources that we have obtained or that will be more fully developed.
We hope to contribute towards water supply and quality enhancements that benefit the entire county, including necessary upgrades to water supplies drawn from the North Bay Aqueduct just north of the project area. The aqueduct currently supplies drinking water for over 500,000 people in Solano and Napa counties but has recently been identified as having “the poorest drinking water quality in the State Water Project” (source). Plans have long been proposed to upgrade the aqueduct and deliver cleaner and more reliable water, but major im provements have not yet been made. We cannot, of course, solve a multi-county drinking water supply problem on our own, but we want to be part of a larger solution to bring clean and reliable water to existing cities as well as our project.”]}],[0,{“id”:[0,”intro-8″],”title”:[0,”How will highways and other transportation services be affected?”],”content”:[0,”We also know that many in the local community already want to see infrastructure as such Highway 12 improved, in order to improve safety, prevent deadly accidents, and improve the interface between the highway and existing communities. We believe that our project can help improve existing regional roadway and public transit services and create capacity for new growth.”]}],[0,{“id”:[0,”intro-9″],”title”:[0,”How will the California Delta and Suisun Marsh be affected?”],”content”:[0,”Strong environmental stewardship is essential to our planning. Open space and ecological habitats are absolutely essential to the health and well-being of our environment and ourselves. Our goal is to build a compact community that avoids and protects the most sensitive habitat. Any approved project will comply with all applicable requirements for protecting the Suisun Marsh and Delta areas.”]}],[0,{“id”:[0,”intro-10″],”title”:[0,”Will there be a vote on this?”],”content”:[0,”Yes. Solano County’s Orderly Growth Measure directs development into cities, and that new projects outside of cities be submitted to the voters for approval. We fully support these principles, and we will ultimately ask the voters to approve any proposed project. We believe the Orderly Growth Measure, most recently reaffirmed by Solano voters in 2008, is the right approach to safeguard Solano County, including our project, from sprawl and disorderly growth for many years to come.”]}],[0,{“id”:[0,”intro-11″],”title”:[0,”How do I give feedback or get involved?”],”content”:[0,”We will be working closely with the community and opening local offices soon. In the meantime, you can reach us through our contact form. Or, email us at contact@californiaforever.com.”]}]]]}” ssr=”” client=”load” opts=”{“name”:”FAQsAccordion”,”value”:true}” await-children=””>
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