California Forever – Time to Garner Support from the People and Build a New Town in Northern California

California Forever – Time to Garner Support from the People and Build a New Town in Northern California

By Amber Ortiz

Northern California has stunning natural beauty and an abundance of culture and resources. Yet I'll tell anyone: “there’s nowhere to live in California."

My West Coast life began in a 3-month hillside sublet in West Marin, with lavender sunsets so vivid I never turned on the TV. Evening silhouettes of crows atop giant pine trees were images of paradise; and down the hill were Bikram Yoga and Terrapin Crossroads. It was a different, better life than NYC.

Then reality struck. It was time to find my own home. My options were: wooden shacks in the hills, new buildings billed as “luxury” but next to highways, or WWII-era cottages in distant farming towns. Any decent homes in walkable towns were for rich people.

Why is there nowhere to live in Northern California?  The causes I’ve seen include a lack of master planning, ongoing augmentation of agricultural land trusts, and corporate real estate’s desire for the path of least resistance to transactions, the latter usually resulting in single land use deals.

In 2024 I became an instant proponent of the New Town proposed by California Forever, with its walkable neighborhoods, mixed-use community cores and human scale development, during a live-streamed presentation by SF-based SITELAB. Shockingly, New Urbanism was making an appearance right here in NorCal – a real town, not another desperate housing development.

Would California actually do something right? I wondered. Yet after much ado, California Forever was dropped from the ballot in late 2024.

A year later, the project has resurfaced with potential annexation by Suison (pronounced "Soo-Soon") City, where the City Manager is wisely rising to the challenge of harnessing California Forever to his domain, in the face of fierce opposition.

 

Why such negative reactions to this fantastic new nexus?

 

Is it the size?

Are Californians taken aback by the size of California Forever? 

Why didn’t they start smaller? Seaside, FL, a famous New Town, is 80 acres and swimmingly successful. Meanwhile, Sacramento’s Upper West Side - 2,000 acres - embodies the same principles of Smart Growth, and is sailing through approvals. Compare these project sizes to CA Forever, which is tallied at 68,000 acres.

Yes, this plan is grander in scale than other New Towns – it is 4X the size of Stapleton and Celebration. But California has a larger-scale housing crisis than anywhere else in our country, so this scale may be justifiable.

 

Is it the Secretive Land Sales?

The most common gripe of opponents is that the land sales were done secretively.

A colleague of mine who specializes in land brokerage, Ken Noack, Jr. of Sacramento, suggested that in part perhaps, CA Forever's "covert strategy" for assembling this gigantic parcel may have triggered the public's opposition. He added that people can be suspicious because they aren't certain what the agenda is.

Julia Blystone, Director of Communications for California Forever, told me they are “just trying to build a city.”

I believe the agenda is exactly that.

Is it an Aversion to Top-Down Initiatives?

John King, in his book “Portal,” describes a “tenacious…resistance to top-down initiatives” in the Bay Area which has “hardened into a force of habit” since the 60’s.  He calls it a “culture of opposition.”

Not only do Californians dislike top-down initiatives; we, and Americans in general, don’t like being told what to do and don’t look kindly on start-ups making gargantuan plans for the public realm. It’s an aversion to the rich trying to wield their power over the people. It’s the fight for freedom.

The opponents are prepared to fight. Former Solano County Supervisor Duane Kromm told the SF Chronicle, "You can't dismiss the possibility that these California Forever guys will try to use special legislation to impose their will.” (SF Chronicle, JK Dineen Oct 14, 2025).

Yes, Bay Area power-to-the-people activism is alive and well. But rather than saying No to California Forever, we should support it.

Why we Should Support California Forever

This project in Solano County is in the best interest of California. As a regional New Town for 90,000-400,000 residents, California Forever would provide ample housing and employment opportunities.

Tired of the dreaded housing search in Northern California? A desirable home of one’s own could be found here - not a shack, not an apartment next to a highway, but one’s own property.

Need I mention that living in a town with job options would liberate us from the windshield time that oppresses us every rush hour?

This New Town would also mitigate the impact of state housing requirements on San Francisco and other municipalities’ existing housing fabric and could exorcise the battles raging over the future densities of residential neighborhoods. This should please SF’s neighborhood associations, which are a vociferous force that developers should want on their side.

Politicians on CA Forever – is that a Yes?

At the 2025 WeLoveSF Gala in San Francisco, I met State Senator Scott Wiener, who is currently mandating housing growth throughout the region, and asked him what he thought about California Forever. He paused, saying nothing.

So I spoke first. “I think it’s a great opportunity,” I said.

And then he reciprocated, “It’s a great opportunity.”

Quality Team

While SITELAB’s plan for California Forever is high-quality urban design, they aren’t the only star of the project. Jan Sramek, founder and CEO of California Forever, has assembled a robust team poised to succeed “across four divisions: city building, clean energy, agriculture, and habitat conservation,” as their website states.

The project’s corporate component is the stand-out for some, including Jean-Francois Lejeune, a renowned City Planner from Miami. He told me, “It’s great that they’re trying to get employment in this place.”

To achieve this, Sramek has engaged an accomplished Business Development professional, Justin Esch, who aims to bring major corporations, entertainment and institutions to California Forever. The team also boasts an Advanced Manufacturing team from JLL and a team of Retail brokers from CBRE, according to the project’s website. This is how firms get companies into buildings in San Francisco; and that is how companies will discover Solano County.

Stronger Region

CA Forever must have recognized the need for community outreach, as they have added Jim Wunderman to their team as Head of Public Affairs. Wunderman “led the Bay Area Council, where his steadfast advocacy has helped shape Northern California—expanding job and economic opportunities, promoting sustainable growth and innovation, and advocating for attainable housing.” He is also known for encouraging “the Bay Area, Sacramento, and the Central Valley… [to] work together as one cohesive “Northern California Megaregion.”

I’m intrigued by this regional outlook. My life is SF to Vallejo; Novato to Napa; Emeryville to Tahoe; San Rafael to Monterey; and I go by Amtrak, Caltrain, BART and Ferry whenever possible. Seriously, I’ve looked at houses in all of these places over the past 12 years.

Building Community

California Forever could be a new city that complements the region; but many Californians are suspicious that this is a top-down initiative by a moneyed force.

However, there may be time to get the people involved and to earn their support. I’m not referring to powerful people on approval boards. I’m talking about people who live and work in the county and the region.

California Forever could invite citizens to participate in charrettes and focus groups. Locals know what areas are susceptible to change, what special places or views should be protected, what amenities and civic additions would make their town thrive, and who can help with positive community participation.

Locals could contribute to California Forever and make it a cause they want to support. In fact, some urbanists have applied such democratic concepts to their life-long career missions.

For instance, Tony Nelessen, a notable urban designer, has hosted “community visioning sessions” in towns and cities around the U.S. for the past fifty years. He says these public charrettes are “instrumental in generating policies, physical plans… and codes” and that they are “a bottom-up tool for designers and public officials to make decisions that make their communities more appealing.”

This respect for “bottom-up” input is the essential, grassroots element that opponents to top-down initiatives like to be part of.

Could it be the next Celebration?

I mentioned to Ms. Blystone the CA Forever renderings I appreciate the most. First is the bike path through nature – that is also my favorite part of Celebration, Florida, a New Town that is thriving.

My other favorite image is the view of backyards with optional ADU’s. The lots are narrow but deep, giving options for rentable in-law units, for space to kick a ball and run, or for building your dream garden. Yes please!

These master-planned communities can seem corny, especially to urban dwellers. But New Towns become their own authentic places. Celebration was built by Walt Disney World (gasp!). Sounds contrived, right? The fake Paris instead of the real Paris, if you will. Even the name is corny. But after finally visiting in 2021, I love Celebration, with its charming housing options and its endless path of bike trails that run through jungly nature as well as civilized town streets.

Indeed, the newest New Towns are very generous with their open spaces and trails. California Forever intends for a quarter of its development project to be open space and is committing to habitat conservation for a massive number of acres.

  * * *

Finally, Perhaps it’s the Name?

At this point, we all must be thinking, “Why don’t we get this so-called “California Forever” a real name?”

I can imagine mailing a card sometime in the 2030’s from a cozy house in Solano County, where our bicycles are in the garage and we often dine al fresco in the backyard, under some leafy trees.

What town name would the return address say?

© Amber Ortiz 2025

CA DRE Lic. #02298371

This article is a personal essay and does not represent the views of my employing company.