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Flannery Associates / California Forever / East Solano Plan / Suisun Expansion Plan |
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The saga of
Solano County fighting a billionaire's utopia has had a number of
twists and turns over the last few years. By the start of 2026,
California Forever had acquired around 70,000 acres of eastern
Solano's farmlands and open space, about 10% of the County’s lands.
They also had abandoned their plans for voter approval of a new town
of approximately 400,000 people after spending $11,000,000, due to
almost certain defeat at the polls. Instead, they approached the City of Suisun which agreed to “explore” annexation. Annexation to an existing city would eliminate the biggest hurdle to their project--the popular voter-approved Solano County Orderly Growth Initiative. California Forever submitted their development entitlement application in October, 2025. In turn, Suisun City issued a Notice of Preparation to produce an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the annexation. Suisun received an unheard of 626 pages of comments in response. These comments focused on the significant impacts that should be studied before any project is approved. |
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| Solano Orderly Growth, as part of the Solano Together Coalition, urged the City of Suisun to allow residents to vote on whether they wanted this massive annexation. City Council members refused. A poll conducted in late December 2025 and early January 2026 by a respected national polling firm, FM3, found that 58% opposed the project and less than 1 in 5 were in favor. Twenty-three percent were undecided. Suisun's City Manager, Bret Prebula, is an unabashed supporter of California Forever. In a video on the city’s website and on YouTube he starts by saying, “This is the greatest opportunity California has seen in the past 25 years.” | ||||||||
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the history of California Forever in Solano County Starting in 2018, a mysterious group called “Flannery Associates” bought up more than 70,000 acres of agricultural and open space lands near Travis Air Force Base (TAFB) in Solano County--an area almost as large as the city of San Francisco. Flannery gave willing landowners ‘sweetheart deals’ which, coupled with the proximity of TAFB, raised a lot of alarm. Despite investigations initiated by the Air Force, by Solano County’s two congressmen, and by local leaders trying to figure out who was behind Flannery, the secretive group remained a mystery. Speculation ran rampant. Were they the Chinese? Was a theme park planned? The only information known before August 2023 was that Flannery Associates was a limited liability company (LLC) registered in Delaware. The Delaware part is important, because in that state, you do not have to disclose who owns or is running an LLC. In August 2023, The New York Times broke the news that Silicon Valley billionaires were the Flannery investors. Their plan? Take “useless” rural land and build a new utopian city, free from local development constraints. |
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Solano Orderly
Growth’s vision for this land is simple. We want to protect: · our agriculture · Travis Air Force Base · our water supply · our habitat · our existing cities and current residents All of this can be accomplished while minimizing infrastructure costs, promoting smooth transportation, and building trust. We believe in efficient government. protect agriculture: Agriculture and nature areas have characterized Solano County for many decades and continue to be a major contributor to our economy. Since the 1980s, Solano County has had a voter-approved Orderly Growth Initiative which says that all urban development must take place within cities. The purpose of the initiative is to protect agriculture and to prevent inefficient and expensive sprawl development. Every time this has been challenged, residents have overwhelmingly continued to support the growth protections. In order for Flannery to continue with its utopian plans, voters county-wide would have to approve the group's new city that would double the county's population. To develop in Solano County, California Forever needed to convince voters to approve their plan. California Forever is trying to get around this problem by annexing to a city willing to take them in. read more > |
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protect Travis:
Travis Air Force Base (TAFB) "handles more cargo
and passenger traffic" than any other military facility in the
United States. TAFB is critical in its military mission, and as
Solano County's largest employer, it is vital to our community. Estimates
put the base's local annual economic impact at about
$3.7 billion. In addition, TAFB is home to the Air Force's largest
medical center, which not only cares for active-duty personnel and
their families, but also the region's veterans from all branches of
service. The Air Force has been clear that encroaching
development--such as what Flannery Associates is proposing--will
impede its ability to carry out operations.
protect our water supply: Water. While Solano County has conscientiously planned for adequate water supplies for both agriculture and people, all of California is subject to changing cycles of rain and drought. Even with prior planning, there is no water available for a new city, especially one that would double the county's population. "Water Wars" is not a joke in a state where we have allocated 5 times more water rights than what is available from the average annual runoff. read more > |
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protect
our habitat:
The lands that Flannery has purchased contain sensitive habitat that
supports native rare and endangered plants and wildlife. They also
are an important part of the Pacific Flyway. "Flannery Associates owns 60% of the county's unprotected freshwater marshes, 50% of the county's high value vernal pool conservation land, and 34% of the region's priority areas for conservation. These high-value conservation lands are not just nice to have—they are vital for a well-balanced ecosystem and are lands intended for conservation as part of Solano’s Habitat Conservation Plan. Without this mitigation land, there would be huge legal barriers to growth in existing cities that planned to protect land that Flannery now owns." -- Solano Together 
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protect
our existing cities and current residents:
Sprawl development--where a new community is built near older
established cities--leads to a well-documented population shift of
higher income tax payers from older cities to the new housing. In
California, cities rely heavily on these taxpayers and they take a big
hit when their prime tax base 'migrates' away. Two types of taxes generate monies for budget items such as public safety and services, infrastructure, and schools: property taxes and sales taxes. Property taxes paid by high-end residents follow the payers to their new development. Sales taxes also often follow those residents. For instance, California has seen examples of car dealerships--which generate a large amount of sales taxes--moving en masse from one locality to another, 'following the money'. Solano's cities are already reeling from a loss of state funds brought on by California's massive budget shortfall. One city--Vallejo--declared bankruptcy in 2008 when economic instability brought on by the recession caused tax revenues to plummet while fixed costs remained high. A similar scenario in local cities is sure to follow if Flannery's plans are approved. Adding sprawl to the equation would equal disaster. |
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| New infrastructure does not pay its own way. New roads, sewer lines, water lines, street lighting, schools, municipal buildings and the like are costly. Our local residents have already rebelled against higher lighting and landscape district assessments, so Solano County hired consultants to analyze the infrastructure costs of the new town. They concluded: | ||||||||
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| California Forever is plunking a city of 400,000 down in an area far from metropolitan centers (San Francisco and Sacramento) which is served by 2-lane country roads. Highway 12 heads south through Rio Vista where a drawbridge impedes the smooth flow of traffic. Heading west, Highway 12 is slowed by signals at many intersections through the cities of Suisun and Fairfield. Highway 113, heading north and east towards Dixon and ultimately Sacramento, is a narrow road intended for rural uses. Their plan assumes the State--meaning us, the current residents--will take on the burden of widening these roads to accommodate a city the size of Oakland. The New Bay Area 2050 Plan does not anticipate this growth. In fact, it directs growth in jobs along the I-80 corridor in Solano County. | ||||||||
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California Forever's ever-changing sales pitch As California Forever's proposals met with stiff resistance, they threw out one idea after another to promote their project. From a waterpark to a regional sports complex, these billionaires have tried all kinds of marketing to make their plan for taking over Solano County seem more palatable. Their latest iteration is "A Three Pillar Plan: Solano Foundry, Solano Shipyard, and Solano Living." It's a doozy of a dream for billionaires who don't want to be constrained by government regulation or society's norms, and are willing to spend lots of cash to make that happen. Solano Foundry According to California Forever's website, the Solano Foundry is a "... 2,100-acre master-planned advanced manufacturing park located in Solano County. It is designed to be the largest facility of its kind in the United States, providing entitlements for up to 40M sq ft of industrial space to support companies scaling from pilot lines to full mass production.” The "advanced manufacturing" designation is important, because in 2025, California passed Senate Bill 131, which exempts advanced manufacturing projects from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). That may not sound alarm bells for most residents of Solano County, but a statement from the City of Rio Vista in May 2026 should: |
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The types of
advanced manufacturing envisioned in the Solano Foundry Plan are: · robotics / AI hardware R&D · built environment · advanced transportation · energy · aerospace and defense · innovation hub · logistics / warehousing All of these industries will have significant environmental impacts on a sensitive habitat, from land degradation during construction to air and water pollution well into the future. Significant amounts of energy and water will be needed, especially for data centers, which would be allowed under the proposal. Toxic chemicals are used in many manufacturing processes, and preventing and cleaning up industrial contamination needs strict oversight. And of course, logistics / warehousing means pollution from big trucks, clogged traffic, plus wear and tear on roads. The kicker to all of these threats to our environment is that California Forever maintains that it will “pre-acquire” all of the necessary land use entitlements before any companies break ground. Then each manufacturing entity will only need a “ministerial permit” to get up and running. No local environmental or land use reviews needed. |
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| With this recruitment perk, California Forever is promising: | ||||||||
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Solano
Shipyard
California Forever is touting a 7,500-acre maritime industrial site on land they own on the Sacramento River. They propose to produce autonomous surface vessels (ASV), also known as “drone boats,” for the U.S. Navy through an agreement with Saronic, a high-tech company with some of the same owners as California Forever. Although the site has been zoned for many years as an industrial park, the County has viewed the practicality of such a development with skepticism. The site is located about 20 miles from the nearest freeway, with more than half of that distance along a winding two-lane rural road. The project, however, has garnered support from the Napa-Solano Building Trades Council and the Northern California Carpenters Union who signed a 40-year agreement to provide the labor. An important aspect to consider in California Forever's proposal is the precarious nature of the shipbuilding industry. U.S. shipyard capacity and its management/workforce expertise lag far behind the leading nations, so a lot of catch-up would be needed to operate profitably and competitively. Worldwide, even the most successful shipbuilding firms often operate at a loss and repeatedly require large government bailouts. A sustainable U.S. shipbuilding sector will depend on a long-term federal commitment of heavy subsidization to a low-profit industry. Solano Orderly Growth believes a better option exists that would not degrade the environment (including the sensitive SF Bay-Delta), cause more strain on our limited water supplies, nor increase congestion on our rural roads. That option is a revitalized Mare Island Shipyard. The City of Vallejo is working to rebuild the former naval shipyard that not only already has a deep water channel connected to the San Francisco Bay, it also offers the basic infrastructure and facilities to build ships. All that is needed is a 21st century upgrade. This would also provide the building trades plenty of work opportunities. A final sticking point is whether or not Saronic would choose to locate on a remote site on the Sacramento River that is completely undeveloped as a deep water port when they currently have access to a fully operational shipyard facility in Brownsville, Texas. |
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Solano
Living
With California Forever's constantly changing vision of housing as an element of their development, responding to every revelation is wasted effort. We stand by our belief that the plan, whether it's the largest advanced manufacturing facility in the U.S., a new residential city the size of Oakland, or a modern-day shipyard built from scratch, is the wrong plan in the wrong place. Solano County residents deserve to have a say in the destiny of their home. We do not deserve to be colonized by billionaires and their enablers, whether they be local, state, or beyond. Transparency fosters trust. Flannery Associates not only got off to a really bad start with their impenetrable secrecy, they kept it up for 5 years. And even then, someone else outed them. Flannery's claim? "We didn't want speculators to inflate real estate prices." Likely no one was convinced, and they have continued--through all of the name changes--to shroud their plans, negotiations, and operations from all scrutiny. Once Flannery Associates' principals were known, the group made no effort to build up trust or good will with the community. Their attitude seemed to be that reasonable folks would get onboard with Their Grand Idea and everyone else would be brushed aside. When Flannery conducted informational gatherings, they didn't want to hear from anyone who doubted or opposed Their Grand Idea. When they sent out opinion polls, they never asked about concerns with Their Grand Idea. And when they encountered landowners who didn't want to sell their land for Their Grand Idea, they sued the owners for $510 million in damages. These landowners are not rich billionaires. Many sold because they were the last of their family wanting to farm. Others had children who wanted to continue farming. Most if not all have now settled. No trust, no good will, just billionaires smiling all the way to the bank. |
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| articles about Flannery Associates / California Forever | ||||||||
| July 16, 2026 | "Update on Shipbuilding in Solano: Saronic Chooses Texas for Port Project" | |||||||
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by Solano Together Solano Together Solano County |
Breaking news on July 16 that California Forever had lost its bid to attract drone shipbuilder Saronic to Solano County. | |||||||
| https://www.solanotogether.org/post/update-saronic-shipbuilding?cid=3e531304-b5f0-479c-a353-d60cc9b782fe | ||||||||
| 09 July 2026 | "Jeff Deiss: We must vet California Forever" | |||||||
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by Jeff Deiss Times Herald Vallejo, CA |
A letter to the editor arguing for no special legislation for California Forever that would bypass local control and set statewide precedent. | |||||||
| https://www.timesheraldonline.com/2026/07/09/jeff-deiss-we-must-vet-california-forever/ | ||||||||
| June 25, 2026 | "Tech billionaires hire Democratic dealmakers in renewed push to build a Bay Area city" | |||||||
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by Kate Wolffe and Yue Stella Yu Cal Matters Sacramento CA 95814 |
California Forever has hired former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg - Democratic architects of landmark environmental laws – to try to get special legislation passed to fast-track development of their new town and their port, by-passing much local control. | |||||||
| https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-forever-solano-shipyard-deal/ | ||||||||
| 19 Apr 2026 | "Ask the voters in Suisun City what they want" | |||||||
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by Duane Kromm Daily Republic Fairfield, CA |
A Tale of Two Polls | |||||||
| https://www.dailyrepublic.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-ask-the-voters-in-suisun-city-what-they-want/article_f14243b5-d6ab-45cd-8909-4c4bb9cff96d.html | ||||||||
| 21 Mar 2026 | "Forever... or never? California Forever plan for new city of 400,000 divides Solano County" | |||||||
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by Glen Martin The Mendocino Voice Mendocino County, CA |
Two opposing visions for Suisun City's future | |||||||
| https://mendovoice.com/2026/03/forever-or-never-california-forever-plan-for-new-city-of-400000-divides-solano-county/ | ||||||||
| 28 Jan 2026 | "New Poll Shows Suisun City Voters Overwhelmingly Oppose California Forever and Proposed Annexation Plan" | |||||||
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Solano Together Coalition CA |
A poll conducted by the nationally recognized group FM3 found that Suisun City voters are overwhelmingly opposed to California Forever's proposed development | |||||||
| https://www.solanotogether.org/post/suisun-poll-opposition | ||||||||
| 8 Jan 2026 | "Underneath California Forever" | |||||||
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by Tanvi Dutta Gupta Bay Nature Berkeley, CA |
Tech billionaires are fighting for their proposed 400,000-person city in Solano County. At least 21 imperiled species depend on the ecosystems where the new city could be built. | |||||||
| https://baynature.org/magazine/winter2026/underneath-california-forever/ | ||||||||
| Jan 2026 | "Affording the California Dream: Optimal Locations and Product Types to Increase Home Ownership Opportunities" | |||||||
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by Ethan Elkind UC Berkeley Law Berkeley, CA |
No issue defines the affordability challenge in California more than housing. | |||||||
| https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/clee/research/land-use/affordingcadream/ | ||||||||
| 20 Oct 2025 | "California Forever's pivot" | |||||||
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by H. Pike Oliver, FAICP Urbanexus Seattle, WA |
From stealth assemblage to Suisun City annexation submission — and the road ahead. | |||||||
| https://www.urbanexus.com/pikeurbanexuscom/2025/10/20/california-forevers-pivot | ||||||||
| 25 Sep 2025 | "California Forever's latest plan for Solano County: A 'drone ship' factory on the shoreline" | |||||||
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by J. K. Dineen San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco, CA |
A “drone ship” factory employing 10,000 workers could be landing on a remote stretch of Solano County waterfront | |||||||
| https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/california-forever-drone-ship-factory-solano-21041261.php | ||||||||
| 28 Jul 2025 | "After November flop, California Forever launches new city concept" | |||||||
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by Katie Dowd, Managing Editor sfgate.com San Francisco, CA |
California Forever's failed attempt at creating a utopian city in the Bay Area has now morphed into a new project | |||||||
| https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/california-forever-new-bay-area-city-factory-20788666.php | ||||||||
| 8 Jul 2025 | "Recently passed California bill defangs its environmental code to spur chip production" | |||||||
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by Nathan Owens Manufacturing Dive Washington, D.C. |
Lawmakers hope Senate Bill 131 can speed up the environmental review process and lower construction costs for manufacturers looking to invest in the state | |||||||
| https://www.manufacturingdive.com/news/california-bill-defangs-environmental-review-spur-chip-investment/752453/ | ||||||||
| 2 Apr 2025 | "UPDATED: California Forever wants property tax lowered on 219 parcels" | |||||||
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by Todd R. Hansen Daily Republic Fairfield, CA |
Flannery Associates LLC has appealed the property tax valuation on 219 properties | |||||||
| https://www.dailyrepublic.com/news/updated-california-forever-wants-property-tax-lowered-on-219-parcels/article_8aa9eb22-28f5-43b3-826a-c9e099243d11.html | ||||||||
| 15 Oct 2024 | "California Forever Says 12 Start-Ups Will Open Workplaces in Its New City" | |||||||
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by Adhiti Bandlamudi KQED San Francisco, CA |
California Forever has publicly promised to bring some 15,000 new jobs to the county. | |||||||
| https://www.kqed.org/news/11986569/california-forever-says-12-start-ups-will-open-workplaces-in-its-new-city | ||||||||
| 22 Feb 2024 | "Tech-billionaire promises for a new city, from roads to water, are worth hundreds of millions of dollars — if they're binding" | |||||||
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by Levi Sumagaysay & Ben Christopher CalMatters Sacramento, CA |
California Forever CEO Jan Sramek says promises of new homes, jobs, investments are binding, but legal experts and elected officials are skeptical | |||||||
| https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/02/california-forever-promises/ | ||||||||
| "California Forever" | ||||||||
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Wikipedia |
California Forever is an American real estate development corporation | |||||||
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Forever | ||||||||
| 28 Aug 2023 | "The Silicon Valley Elite Who Want to Build a City From Scratch" | |||||||
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by Conor Dougherty & Erin Griffith New York Times New York, NY |
A mysterious company has spent $800 million in an effort to buy thousands of acres of San Francisco Bay Area land | |||||||
| https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/business/land-purchases-solano-county.html | ||||||||
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| © 2026 Solano Orderly Growth Committee | ||||||||
