SOLANO COUNTY, Calif. — California Forever now says it has the signatures needed to appear on the November 2024 ballot. It's the proposed new city between Rio Vista and Travis Air Force Base funded by Silicon Valley billionaires.
California Forever CEO Jan Sramek announced Tuesday his organization has collected more than 20,472 signatures of the 13,062 needed to get their proposed city on the ballot.
“Solano voters have made their first choice and they made it loud and clear. Over 20,000 signatures for the petition,” said Sramek.
The group dropped off their signatures in 39 boxes at the Solano County Registrar and left with a receipt for a submitted petition.
Vacaville Vice Mayor Greg Richie supports the proposed city.
“Jobs, clean energy and homes. Those three things are so paramount to our community,” said Richie.
The plan submitted to the Registrar in February outlines a 39-square-mile city with 40,000 to 160,000 housing units for up to 400,000 residents.
But first the Solano County Registrar has one week to count all the signatures for the East Solano Homes, Jobs, and Clean Energy Initiative petition. Assistant Registrar of Voters John Gardner says if correct, they have five weeks for verification number two.
“If they cross that 13,062 amount, then we will go forward into the next step, which is a random review of 3% (of signatures),” said Gardner.
A full timeline with each scenario can be found here.
If they don’t have 95% of the signatures approved, the process stops, but 110% and they can move forward.
If California Forever has the signatures they need, the initiative then goes to the Board of Supervisors.
“The board could just adopt it as the new ordinance, they can assign it to the next scheduled election or they can request more time, do a study, get 10 additional days, ask for an expert from another department,” said Gardner.
Mitch Mashburn, Chair of the Solano County Board of Supervisors, released this statement:
“This is an unprecedented situation for Solano County in terms of scale and scope of the proposed new community and changing the County’s General Plan via this initiative process. If California Forever qualifies their initiative for the ballot, each of us gets a single up or down vote to approve or deny this new development that has the potential at full buildout to nearly double the County’s current population. Only a vote of the people can authorize it because California Forever proposes to significantly alter the voter-approved policies and the Orderly Growth Ordinance in place since the 1980’s that focus growth in the seven existing cities and preserve farmland in many areas of the unincorporated county, including the area where California Forever proposes a new community.
Many in the community have asked me about the uncertainty surrounding this initiative which includes a long list of unanswered questions and an absence of specific plans and environmental studies to address them. I can assure the Solano County community that the Board of Supervisors will do everything we can to provide the facts needed to make an informed decision.
If the initiative qualifies for the ballot, the Board of Supervisors has the option to order a report assessing impacts of the proposed community. I intend to recommend such action to the Board as we have an obligation to the public to have access to objective information on the proposed community and its impacts, both negative and positive. This report would be presented to the Board this summer in accordance with timelines for the initiative process as set forth in State law.”
Gardner says there are only two ways the initiative doesn’t move forward: they don’t have enough signatures or someone sues California Forever over their process, delaying it in court.
A counter ballot initiative to oppose them on the ballot could also be launched. ABC10 reached out to their opposition, Solano Together, and received this statement.
“With the deep pockets of their billionaire backers, it comes as no surprise that California Forever gathered enough signatures for their initiative. This doesn’t change the fact that recent polling shows that most voters are overwhelmingly rejecting this proposal that would increase traffic while paving over valuable agricultural lands and diverting valuable resources from existing communities. We look forward to working with our thousands of allies in the community to defeat this dangerous initiative in November.”
California Forever says they will make public the partnerships they secured so far for the new city in terms of healthcare, entertainment and others over the next few months.
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