Investors in a company proposing to build a new urban center in Solano County made some changes to the company’s plan this week.
California Forever, the parent company of Flannery Associates LLC, filed an amended proposed ballot initiative with Solano County on Monday, reducing the size of its proposed new community by 1,100 acres.
The updated version also clarifies that water sources could be developed elsewhere in the state and adds a section on rail connections to the community.
Water and transportation issues have been just some of the reasons the Sierra Club and a local coalition called Solano Together have opposed the project. Solano Together includes local elected officials and the Solano County Farm Bureau.
The initiative would amend the county’s general plan to allow the community to be developed even though it is outside an existing urban area.
In a revised version of the initiative filed Monday with the Solano County Registrar of Voters, the company reduced the size of its proposed community to 17,500 acres, down from 18,600 in its original proposal filed earlier this month.
The proposed initiative must receive 13,062 signatures from registered voters in the county to appear on the November ballot, 10 percent of the vote in the 2022 gubernatorial election.
The plan still calls for setting aside 4,000 acres for open green space, meaning the percentage of proposed green space increased from about 20 to 22 percent.
Unchanged are the 10 “voter guarantees” outlined in the initiative, including creating 15,000 jobs that pay more than the weekly county average. The company also proposed creating separate funds to support homebuyers in the new community and invest in other cities’ downtowns.
The revised version clarifies a section on water sources that could sustain the new community, adding that potable water sources may be developed “in other parts of the state.”
It also adds a section advocating for external rail connection to the community, calling on the Solano Transportation Authority and other regional transportation bodies to champion the idea, while pledging to set aside areas for rail connection in the community.
The initiative would establish a $400 million fund for education scholarships and homebuying assistance within the new community and another $200 million to revitalize downtowns in other cities in the county.
It proposes nearly doubling the size of the undeveloped defensive zone around Travis Air Force Base from about 8,000 acres to nearly 15,000 acres.
Other assurances touch on habitat preservation, water conservation and the promise to fund the entire project with taxes raised within the new community and leave county funds untapped.
The company has 180 days from Monday to collect enough valid signatures to get the initiative on the ballot.