A stalled proposal to build a 27-square-mile “smart city” in Solano County may be getting a reboot thanks to one small town.
You may recall that the billionaires behind the California Forever project were forced to pull their county ballot initiative last year. They were facing major resistance from both residents and local leaders. However, as Politico reports, they could manage to build their utopian city after all — without any voter approval.
Last week, the Suisun City Council voted to direct the city manager to discuss ways to expand the struggling city and its tax base.
Suisun City faces clear economic challenges and is currently only staffing emergency services at 80 percent of recommended levels. A local sales tax ballot measure in 2024 helped ward off further cuts, but will not resolve the deficit. In Prebula’s view, growing the city is a way toward financial stability.
But notably, the only direction the city can expand is east — directly into land owned by California Forever, the group behind the contentious effort to develop a dense, new-urbanist-style city that would double the county’s population. Since arriving in Solano County in 2023, the company, led by CEO Jan Sramek, has faced significant local resistance even as it has flooded the county with billboards and mailers advocating for its project.
California Forever would neither confirm nor deny that it plans to use Suisun as a back door for the project. But “if we receive an invitation to explore annexation by Suisun City, we would be open to a conversation,” a spokesperson said.
At least one member of the Suisun City Council is speaking out.
“The project would stop being California Forever and it would start being the city of Suisun. That’s what was a total mind trip,” said Mayor Pro Tem Princess Washington. “To do this was very cunning. It’s diabolical."
Read more here.