Billionaire Backers Of A Proposed Utopian California City Release A Map And Details

When one normally talks about a utopia or tech city like Google is working on, the end result is usually a failed experiment that had good intentions from the start but was not able to quite make it work. However, a team out of Solano County, California, is looking to make elements of the concept work by developing a new community to the east of Fairfield and Suisun City near Travis Air Force Base. While the plan is grandiose, the concept may work, especially with the amount of money going into the project.

The East Solano Homes, Jobs, and Clean Energy Initiative is a project to design and develop a community with “middle-class homes in safe, walkable neighborhoods” supported by “good-paying jobs in advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, construction, and other industries, as well as large investments in education, green spaces, clean energy, and the revitalization of downtowns across the county.” In the past, this plan, while vast, has been lacking in details that have been publicly spoken about. However, this is changing with the publishing of the proposal for the community, which will go to vote on the Solano County ballot in November of this year.


The proposal explains that this new community is going to be an 18,600 acres large town supporting up to 50,000 residents. With the build out, the goal is to create at least 15,000 good-paying jobs, provide $500 million in community benefits for downpayment assistance, scholarships, and parks, and $200 million to improve and revitalize the downtowns of several local municipalities. Another item of note in this proposal is the goal of protecting and supporting Travis AFB with a 14,900-acre buffer zone, which will only allow for agriculture, open space, and solar farms. Further, the community hopes to leverage the Air Force base to draw in new residents and industries relevant to the base, such as defense, aerospace, and manufacturing jobs.


While all of this sounds great, quite a bit of money is being spent on the project. With this, it should be known that this initiative is being led by Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader, who has raised 97% of the project’s capital from U.S. investors. The remaining three percent comes from a handful of other international people listed on the FAQ page for the project.

Further, while this project is referenced as a tech utopia for some, it is more a realization of our current knowledge and technology. The FAQ explains that the simple goal is to “create a new walkable & safe community” and that the team does not “think of this as ‘backward-looking’ nor is it ‘futuristic’ or ‘utopian.’” Regardless of what you call it, though, it is certainly an interesting project to keep an eye on as it could be the inspiration for new communities around the United States and the world. Further, it seems to be making more headway than other tech cities like Elon Musk’s SolarCity or New Mexico’s CITE concept.