A chance for a new community, good paying local jobs,
solar
farms, and open space
Solano County sits at the crossroads of Northern California. Nestled
between Sacramento, the Delta, San Francisco, and Napa Valley, Solano
perfectly captures the diversity of California’s landscapes and its
people. It is the home of agriculture and green energy industries that
sustainably feed and power our state, strong middle-class communities,
and our nation’s busiest Air Force base. Eastern Solano County is also
an area ready for a new community. We’re excited to tell our story.
California Forever is the parent company of Flannery Associates. Over
the last few years, Flannery has purchased over 50,000 acres in Solano
County. To date, our company has been quiet about our activities. This
has, understandably, created interest, concern, and speculation. Now
that we’re no longer limited by confidentiality, we are eager to begin
a conversation about the future of Solano County – a conversation with
all of you. Like much of our state, Solano County faces many
challenges – but also presents countless opportunities. Over the past
few years, we have completed surveys and interviews with about 2,000
residents of Solano County and your voices were clear. Residents want
more opportunities to buy homes in safe, walkable communities. Good
paying local jobs, so they can both live and work in the county.
Better funding to improve schools, promote public safety, and reduce
homelessness, as well as resources to invest in infrastructure for
transportation, water, and wildfire protection.
Last month, 81% of Solano parents we surveyed said that their kids
won’t be able to find a future in their own neighborhood when they
grow up.
These challenges often have separate, unrelated causes. But they could
share a common solution. Instead of watching our kids leave, we have
the opportunity to build a new community that attracts new employers,
creates good paying local jobs, builds homes in walkable
neighborhoods, leads in environment stewardship, and fuels a growing
tax base to serve the county at large. And, Solano has the right
location for a project like this in the eastern part of the county.
The area today.
This is not just our idea. In the past, when preparing long-range
plans for the Bay Area, the Association of Bay Area Governments
(“Regional Plan 1970-1990”) and the U.S. Department of Commerce
(“Future Development of the San Francisco Bay Area, 1960-2020”) both
concluded that to keep our region affordable, prosperous, and
balanced, new industries and communities could be built in eastern
Solano. The area had low fire risk, access to water, and was
strategically located in the middle of the larger Northern California
region. All that remains true today.
Let’s dust off those plans,
and breathe new life into them.
California Forever was founded in 2017 by our CEO, Jan Sramek. After
moving to California a decade ago, Jan spent time in Solano County
during fishing trips on the California Delta and fell in love with the
area. Having previously lived in many of the world’s most walkable,
livable, and sustainable towns and cities, Jan became interested in
fusing what he learned about those livable communities with those old
plans for eastern Solano. He became committed to a vision for the
future of Solano County. Jan and his wife Naytri recently purchased
their first-ever home in Solano, and they are excited to live here
with their toddler daughter, her soon-to-arrive little brother, and
golden retriever Bruce.
This idea of building a new community and economic opportunity in
eastern Solano seemed impossible on the surface, but after spending a
lot of time learning about Solano and its people, Jan became convinced
that with a thoughtful design, the right long-term patient investors,
and strong partnerships with
