California Forever, a tech billionaire-backed initiative aiming to construct a new city on farmland in the outer San Francisco Bay Area, is pushing state officials to accelerate approval processes tied to a major shipbuilding project that serves as a catalyst for its broader development plan. The group, which has pursued the project for nearly a decade, is seeking expedited environmental reviews and legislation allowing local boundary adjustments that would enable the land to be annexed into Suisun City, bypassing current county restrictions.
The project’s backers have enlisted former California Senate leaders Darrell Steinberg and Bob Hertzberg—key figures in the state’s environmental lawmaking—to advocate for regulatory changes. Central to their push is attracting Saronic Technologies Inc., a defense contractor specializing in autonomous vessels, which is evaluating California against Texas for its next manufacturing facility.
California Forever’s vision has evolved since its inception. Initially pitched as a walkable community featuring homes, bike lanes, and recreational spaces, the plan expanded to incorporate a shipbuilding operation last year and a significant manufacturing hub. Supporters, including the state’s building trades unions, realtors, peace officers, and pro-housing groups, argue that the development could generate up to 500,000 jobs and provide a substantial boost to California’s economy.
To expedite the project, the developers are requesting to rely on a 2008 environmental impact report that describes the targeted land as “water-dependent industrial usage,” despite much of the area lacking that designation. They also seek to limit legal challenges to 270 days and enable Suisun City to annex about 7,500 acres of county farmland if local officials fail to approve sufficient housing developments in time.
Steinberg and Hertzberg contend that using the older report will avoid years of delays, arguing the site has seen little change since the original assessment. However, local officials and some lawmakers, including Solano County’s Senator Christopher Cabaldon, dispute this, emphasizing that the scale and nature of the proposed development warrant a fresh, thorough environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Opponents have expressed concern over the project’s potential impact on farmland and the surrounding ecosystem and criticize the group’s strategy to circumvent local opposition. Since 2018, California Forever’s subsidiary, Flannery Associates, quietly acquired approximately 62,000 acres of agricultural land in Solano County, drawing scrutiny over alleged aggressive purchase tactics and limited transparency about its backers—identified as tech investors including former Goldman Sachs trader Jan Sramek and venture capitalists linked to Andreessen Horowitz.
Earlier attempts to gain local voter approval through rezoning proposals faced strong grassroots resistance, leading to the postponement of a 2024 ballot measure. The group has since shifted focus to smaller-scale plans, including the Suisun Expansion Plan and the Solano Shipyard, and has secured the support of influential labor unions through a 40-year agreement to use union labor on the development.
Suisun City initiated steps in January 2025 to explore annexing the land, a process that could take years but is seen by critics as a way to bypass county-level growth controls designed to require voter consent for such developments. Community activists have accused California Forever of pursuing its agenda largely behind closed doors, leveraging relationships with state legislators and lobbying intensively—spending at least $330,000 since 2024—to influence the approval process.
While proponents warn that failure to fast-track the project could result in the loss of billions in investment and tens of thousands of jobs to other states, skeptics caution that the anticipated employment impact may be overstated, particularly given the automation-centered nature of Saronic’s operations. Local officials stress the importance of rigorous environmental and land-use reviews to safeguard community interests and question the rush to approve a project that remains incompletely detailed.
California Forever’s representatives maintain that all proposed developments will comply with environmental and land-use laws and emphasize their intent to concentrate new growth within existing city limits, framing the effort as aligned with community preferences. Meanwhile, state agencies have engaged in discussions with Saronic but have not offered direct incentive packages. The company’s search for a site remains ongoing, with Texas continuing to present significant tax incentives.
As the debate unfolds, the balance between economic development, environmental responsibility, and local control remains at the forefront of discussions surrounding California Forever’s ambitious plans for a new city and industrial hub in the Bay Area’s periphery.