California Forever Clears First Hurdle in Suisun City Annexation

California Forever’s proposed mega-development has crossed its first hurdle in its bid for annexation by Suisun City. After receiving the company’s development application earlier this month, City Manager Bret Prebula said Tuesday he and other officials deemed it complete.

Now, city staff will prepare for the next step in the lengthy annexation process: the environmental impact report.

“We’ve been having really high-level conversations with [California Forever] about our interests with jobs and housing and transportation and the need to have open space,” Prebula said in a video posted on the social media platform X. “They’ve really listened, and we expect this continued dialog and negotiation as the project evolves.”

The announcement means California Forever likely won’t bring its plan before voters, as it initially proposed last year.

When it was first introduced, residents received the proposal with mixed reactions. Some were excited at the prospect of more jobs and homes, while others remained skeptical about the company’s intentions and the project’s viability. Many were confused as to why California Forever wanted to build a new city, instead of developing a project within an existing one.

In an X thread posted Tuesday, CEO Jan Sramek said the Suisun Expansion Plan would solve those problems by connecting the original 2024 plan to an existing city.

“Last year, the community was clear — ‘We like the plan, but in Solano County, “what is urban shall be municipal,” — so make this an extension of an existing city, not a new community,’” Sramek said in his post. “Suisun City stepped up and proposed building the city as part of the Suisun Expansion Project. They’re now on the way to becoming California’s best example of the Abundance Agenda.”

The company’s application remains largely similar to its original plan, but instead of the project becoming a new city in unincorporated Solano County, the mega-development could now be located largely within Suisun City, if city and county leaders eventually approve the annexation deal. Rio Vista leaders have also expressed interest in annexing a portion of California Forever’s plan, but those details have yet to be publicly unveiled.

Suisun City leaders have said they are exploring annexation to grow the city’s tax base and solve a structural deficit. Officials in Rio Vista also want to expand their tax base, but aim to preserve the city’s character as a quaint, river-side town.

The project would be built in two phases: Over 20 years, the company would focus on development west of Highway 113 and would build 65,217 new homes, the majority of its advanced manufacturing park called the “Solano Foundry,” along with a downtown and entertainment district. In its application, California Forever anticipates that the first phase would be able to support around 150,000 people.

Later, around 2050, the company would start development east of the highway and fully build out the community, which could eventually support 400,000 people.

Sramek called it “the next great American city.”

“The Suisun Expansion Plan is a story of a small city that is dreaming big and tackling some of California’s biggest challenges head on,” he said in the X post. “It’s something that should be applauded and is worthy of the greatest support from people who care about abundance, urbanism and housing.”

Now that the application is complete, Prebula said he will spend the next month holding meetings with staff and Suisun City officials to start an environmental impact report, and eventually, the public will be able to read and comment on it.