Billionaire-Backed Developer Asks Voters to Approve New California City
- Planners push ballot measure for Solano County community
- Lawsuit, $900 million in stealth land deals alienate locals
Land near Rio Vista, California.
Photographer: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader leading the charge to build a new California city is starting to fill in the details around the secretive project as he and a campaign team funded by his Silicon Valley investors prepare to take their case to the voters.
The development in Solano County, northeast of San Francisco, would start with 50,000 residents in a first phase near Rio Vista, Jan Sramek, founder and chief executive officer of California Forever, which conceived the project, said in an interview. Business opportunities would arise in housing and mixed-use construction, renewable energy, farming and conservation.