California Forever’s Shipbuilding Plans Need More Details, Solano County Officials Say

California Forever, which is still working on its plan to build a city in southeast Solano County, has expressed interest in building ships, too. Solano County officials say they want to see a concrete plan.

On Tuesday, the Solano County Board of Supervisors invited the company to present a proposal for constructing and operating a shipbuilding facility, so county staff could understand how it might affect the county’s plans for future development and impacts to surrounding cities.

“The county hasn’t seen anything,” Supervisor Wanda Williams said. “It’s time to sit down and have conversations with the county and work with staff so we can see what is this proposal.”

The meeting comes a week after Fairfield, Suisun City and Rio Vista passed resolutions supporting shipbuilding in the county. The latter two cities also agreed to work together as both explore annexing a portion of California Forever’s more than 60,000 acres of land. The billionaire-backed company is one of the largest landowners in the county.

In late March, the company announced interest in establishing a shipbuilding facility in Collinsville, a small town located in an unincorporated area across the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from Pittsburg, a city with its own history of industrial shipbuilding.

California Forever made national headlines in 2023 after it announced its plans to build a walkable city, roughly the size of Oakland, on 17,500 acres of land in the Montezuma Hills. Along with the new city, company executives promised to bring good-paying jobs and new homes.

Solano residents had prepared to vote on the plan in November, but the company pulled its initiative from the ballot and promised to bring it back to voters next year after completing an environmental impact report and development agreement reviewed by the county.

According to county officials, the company has not submitted any new documents on its plan yet, but has expressed interest in ship manufacturing in light of federal and state actions supporting reviving the maritime industry.

Late last year, lawmakers, including Rep. John Garamendi, introduced the SHIPS for America Act, which would provide tax credits, financial incentives and revolving funds to boost domestic shipbuilding and repair. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the leaders of several federal departments to invest in and expand the maritime industry.

“The Solano Shipyard is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore America’s maritime leadership, revitalize our county’s shipbuilding heritage, and bring tens of thousands of good jobs to the area,” a California Forever spokesperson said in a statement to KQED. “We look forward to working with Solano County and all other stakeholders to seize this moment.”

Earlier this month, Assemblymember Lori Wilson announced the creation of a working group focused on expanding the shipbuilding industry in Solano County. It includes a number of local mayors, council members, supervisors and California Forever CEO Jan Sramek.

Proponents of the effort pointed to the county’s history in shipbuilding at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo. It was the first naval base established on the Pacific Ocean in 1854, but was decommissioned in 1996.

Dwight Calloway, a former worker at the Naval Shipyard and member of Wilson’s working group, said he would support a proposal to bring shipbuilding back to Solano County so the United States is less dependent on other countries for trade.

“As we sit around discussing what we need to do, but not doing anything — we have to do something,” he said. “Regardless of how we feel about it, we’re behind, but we’re Americans. We can do whatever it is that we need to do because that’s how we’re built.”

County Administrator Bill Emlen told KQED more than 1,200 acres in Collinsville could be used for maritime industrial operations, according to the county’s current General Plan. The land is currently zoned for agricultural use.

If California Forever submitted a plan to build a shipbuilding facility within those 1,200 acres, it wouldn’t need voter approval.

Board Chair Mitch Mashburn said he supported the idea of “some type of shipbuilding industry or manufacturing” but that the county — not individual cities — would be responsible for reviewing any project put forward.

“I want to make sure we separate excitement from the process,” he said. “That land sits squarely within the county’s jurisdiction and responsibility. … It is within our regulatory purview within the county, not within any of the cities.”

Mashburn also noted that this type of project would be expensive and the county would likely need to invest millions of dollars to update its infrastructure and conduct environmental impact studies.

“There’s a lot of talk for this, but there’s not a lot of walk,” he said. “Until we see some monies that come out of the federal government and some supporting legislation that has the funding behind it, this is all a wonderful idea.”