Silicon Valley tech billionaires hoping to build a utopian city on the rural outskirts of the San Francisco Bay Area are putting their plans on hold due to opposition from local residents.
California Forever, which aims to build an innovative urban area on farmland in Solano County, has announced it will delay the project for at least two years to study the environmental impacts.
The original plan was to build a walkable urban area on what are now sheep farms and windmills in rural areas about 60 miles northeast of San Francisco.
California Forever, whose backers include billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Steve Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs, had planned to put the measure on the ballot in November and get the city’s approval from Solano County voters.
The bill would remove zoning restrictions that prevent urban development in the area.
But after local opposition intensified, with outraged residents accusing California Forever’s CEO, Jan Sramek, of being a “quack drug salesman” in tense neighborhood meetings, the company decided to backtrack.
“Delaying the vote gives everyone a chance to pause and work together, which is what we need, not friends in the county fighting each other, but both sides fighting each other.” According to a joint statement from the county and California Forever.
Solano County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mitch Mashburn said in a statement that the project “will instead proceed through the normal county process, which includes filing a comprehensive plan and zoning amendment application, preparing a full environmental impact statement and negotiating and executing a development agreement.”
Solano Forever, a group formed to oppose the plan, declared victory on Monday, saying “the people’s voice has been heard and California Forever is now forced to reverse its hastily written and inadequate plan, with certainty of defeat in the November election.”
California Forever, the county’s largest landowner, still plans to move forward with plans to build a city expected to be home to about 400,000 residents.
“Through this process, I believe we can forge a common vision that will pass overwhelmingly and build broad consensus for the future,” Sramek said.
“We are pleased to work collaboratively with the Board of Supervisors, its Land Use Subcommittee and county staff to make this plan a reality.”
Solano County residents first became concerned when a mysterious entity began buying up large swaths of local farmland valued at approximately $900 million.
The massive land purchase, carried out by an anonymous entity, and its proximity to Travis Air Force Base initially raised suspicions that a hostile foreign power was behind it.
The buyer of the approximately 52,000 acres of farmland near the base was later revealed to be Flannery Associates, a limited liability company registered in Delaware.
Flannery approached landowners one after another, offering prices well above market value for land that was not for sale.
Neighbors were further infuriated when Flannery filed a $500 million antitrust lawsuit against a group of farmers who refused to sell their land to him.
The lawsuit accused the farmers of conspiring with each other to inflate the value of their land.
Last year, The New York Times uncovered the identities of the people behind the operation.
Mr. Sramek, a 36-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader, is pitching his city to locals as a walkable place with short commutes, thousands of new, high-paying jobs, sustainable energy, expansive orchards and affordable housing.
California has become the epicenter of the nation’s housing crisis, with red tape, red tape and local opposition stymieing the construction of new homes, exacerbating a severe housing shortage that has sent real estate prices soaring and made the cost of living increasingly unaffordable for many.
