A plan to build a utopian urban oasis in the windswept hills of Northern California’s Solano County now has a splashy website, which aims to tout the controversial project’s benefits and win over wary locals.
(Bloomberg) — A plan to build a utopian urban oasis in the windswept hills of Northern California’s Solano County now has a splashy website, which aims to tout the controversial project’s benefits and win over wary locals.
The site describes the proposed development — called California Forever — as a walkable community that will help solve “regional infrastructure needs, including energy, transportation, water and wildfire protection.” The website features painted images — resplendent in pastels and presumably depicting the planned city — that evoke Italy’s Tuscan countryside, albeit with wind turbines in the background.
It also cites the project’s backers, who hadn’t been divulged until news of their involvement surfaced in the past week. In addition to investors already connected to the project, such as Sequoia Capital’s former chairman, Mike Moritz, and Marc Andreessen, the site names venture capital veteran John Doerr as one of the supporters. Doerr invested through his family office, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The founder and CEO is cited as Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader.
California Forever, the parent company of Flannery Associates LLC, said Flannery has purchased more than 50,000 acres in Solano County. The group acknowledged that these land acquisitions, which weren’t made public until recently, have stirred controversy.
“This has, understandably, created interest, concern, and speculation,” the group said in the website. “Now that we’re no longer limited by confidentiality, we are eager to begin a conversation about the future of Solano County.”
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Opposition to the project has grown among local politicians, who have decried a lack of communication. The new website is an attempt to pitch California Forever directly to the public. “We are excited to finally close this first chapter and begin the phase of our work that matters most: our conversation with you,” the site says.
On the website, California Forever addresses some of the concerns surrounding the project, such as its proximity to the busy Travis Air Force Base and the loss of farmland.
“Travis Air Force Base is critical to both our national security and to Solano County,” the group said. “We fully support its mission and always will.”
The project will protect Solano’s open space, California Forever said. “Many nearby landowners are committed to agriculture, and have told us they do not want to sell or develop their properties. Their properties will, along with some of our properties, form this agricultural green belt around the new community.”
It also addresses why the development was in “stealth mode” until now.
“The only way to avoid creating a rush of reckless short-term land speculation was to not share our specific plans until we finished acquiring the properties,” the site says. “We are now excited to move on to the real work of building a thoughtful and consensus-minded plan for eastern Solano.”
–With assistance from Lizette Chapman and Karen Breslau.
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