NorCal City Advances Billionaires' Utopian 'California Forever' Development Plan

A group of Silicon Valley investors behind the real estate company California Forever had their application to become part of Suisun City accepted this week, moving the project into more detailed planning stages for annexation that will include an environmental impact report and water use plan.

The plan broadly calls for two, 20-year buildouts of neighborhoods, commercial, mixed-use and greenspace that would expand the boundaries of Suisun City in Solano County to stretch eastward past state Highway 113 and ultimately include about 400,000 residents, with phase one initially preparing for up to 150,000 residents, according to the plan and Jan Sramek, California Forever's founder and CEO, who is a former Goldman Sachs trader.

Suisun City, situated to the southwest of Travis Air Force Base, would be connected to the new development by a roughly 7,100-acre corridor along state Highway 12 south of the base. That area would include the existing Lambie Industrial Park and would be restricted to development that won't interfere with the base's operations. That zone was titled the "Area Plan" for the proposed project.

The first phase plans to develop about 15,700 acres of land with 65,000 residences, a downtown entertainment district, and a manufacturing park the company has named the "Solano Foundry," which is meant to be a cornerstone of the city's job creation goals. That zone was outlined in the company's "Specific Plan" in its application to the city.

Together, the Specific Plan and Area Plan submitted to the city to consider for incorporation cover 22,873 acres.

The company originally proposed incorporating a new city on about 65,000 acres of land in unincorporated Solano County east of Travis Air Force Base that would be developed to support a population of 400,000 people.

• Read more: Billionaires' Secretive 'California Forever' Utopia Faces Blowback

The company switched tracks to partner with an existing city after the city manager of Suisun City, Bret Prebula, said he proposed the plan earlier this year after considering how Suisun City could grow in the future.

"In the months that we've been having really high-level conversations with them about our interest with jobs and housing, transportation, and to have open space as part of this process, among other very big picture items, they've really listened," Prebula said.

He said he expected the discussion and negotiations about the project to continue as it moves along.
The company remains in talks with the city of Rio Vista to potentially split its project into both cities. Its application to Suisun City asks city planners to consider that alternative to the current plan.

The company's original idea of creating a new city rankled some and drew criticisms from residents, county leaders and lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, whose district includes Travis Air Force Base.

Various critiques touched on the water use, transportation infrastructure and public cost of such a proposal, but nearly all criticized the hurried timeline the company created by only revealing in August 2023 what its plans were, before trying to get a ballot measure before Solano County voters in November 2024 asking them to rezone the land for the project's benefit.

The company pulled the ballot measure and planned to try again. Instead, The Suisun Expansion Project, as it is formally dubbed, became a viable alternative.

Sramek said the overall land-use plan was unchanged from its original proposal to rezone the unincorporated land.

"Last year, the community was clear — we like the plan, but in Solano County, 'what is urban shall be municipal', so make this an extension of an existing city, not a new community. Suisun City stepped up and proposed building the city as part of the Suisun Expansion Project," Sramek wrote on X on Tuesday, announcing that the application had been accepted.

He said the proposal would help Suisun City expand the only way it could.

"This also solves a generational problem for Suisun — at 4 square miles, they're Solano's smallest city by area, and have been landlocked for decades, closed off from growth and opportunity. Their only path to grow was east, but you can't build that close to Travis AFB, America's Gateway to the Pacific," Sramek wrote.

Prebula said the city will take 30-45 days to start the environmental review process, and once that first phase, known as "scoping," is done, a draft environmental impact report will be prepared and submitted for public feedback.

Sramek said on X that a detailed water use assessment will be published by early 2026 but said the study had already identified water sources for the project.

The first phase would use existing and increased supply of groundwater and surface water and rely on recycled water for non-potable uses. The project proposed to build three water intake stations, with two in Lindsey Slough and one in Carpenter Slough, along with a surface water storage pond and two water treatment facilities that could potentially treat more than 26 million gallons of water per day, according to the Specific Plan, which was prepared by the Oakland-based consulting firm Dudek.

The plan calls for relying on those sources for the first phase, before the second phase would require imported water from outside sources, according to the proposal.

A public meeting and presentation on the project is scheduled for Oct. 27 at The Vault Event Center, 700 Main St., Suite 102, in Suisun City.

Copyright © 2025 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.