"Are You a CEO Interested in a Feature Interview?"
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
The Silicon Valley billionaires behind a controversial effort to build a new city near San Francisco are postponing further development of the utopian project for at least two years, California Forever announced. Announced The announcement Monday came just days after a county report on the East Solano plan raised new concerns about the effort.
Over the past few years, tech investors have raised more than $800 million to buy more than 50,000 acres of mostly farmland in the Bay Area, hoping to build walkable urban communities that will provide badly needed housing in the densely populated state.
But the project has sparked tensions between billionaire backers and Solano County stakeholders, who clashed over California Forever’s anonymous approach to purchasing the land. And investors are eager to move quickly. Throughout the process, California Forever CEO Jan Sramek has argued the need for more housing is urgent and pushed for a fast approval process.
A report released earlier this month by California Forever said the project would pump billions of dollars of economic activity into the county and create tens of thousands of jobs. report The utopian plan, ordered by the Solano County Board of Supervisors last month, is estimated to drain billions of county funds and harm agricultural production in rural areas. The report also notes that the development could threaten local water supplies and “may not be financially feasible.”
California Forever had planned to present a ballot proposal to Solano County voters this November, but that plan has been scrapped, according to a joint statement from Sramek and Solano County Supervisor Mitch Mashburn.
Instead, California Forever will spend the next two years preparing an environmental impact statement for the development and continuing to work toward reaching a development agreement with the county.
Mashburn said he thought the decision reflected Sramek’s recognition that the timing of the project was “unrealistic.”
“Postponing the vote gives everyone a chance to pause and work together, which is what we need — friends in our county working together, not fighting each other on both sides,” Mashburn wrote.
Sramek, on the other hand, offered a slightly different take on the delay, saying the company is simply “reorganizing” its procedures to prioritize environmental impact reports over zoning approvals, and stressed that the change will not affect the project’s “ambitious timeline.”
The plan still needs voter approval before it can get final approval, and Sramek said in a statement that California Forever plans to submit its full plan for approval in 2026.
Business Insider has reached out to California Forever and Solano County for additional comment.