A proposal to establish a new city in Solano County, California, has gained significant momentum after surpassing the required number of signatures to appear on the county's ballot in the upcoming November elections. California Forever, a corporation backed by prominent billionaires, has acquired 60,000 acres of land with the vision of creating a sustainable and walkable community in the eastern region of Solano County.

The Solano County Registrar of Voters announced on Tuesday that the California Forever plan has reached the statistically valid signatures threshold for the November ballot. A small sample of the petition indicated that it contained approximately 113.5 percent of the required 14,369 valid signatures. This development comes at a time when housing prices in California have reached an all-time high of over $900,000, and the state is grappling with a chronic housing shortage.

According to data from the California Association of Realtors, the housing crisis has prompted the proposal to construct a new city in Solano County. Only 16 new housing units were approved in San Francisco between the beginning of 2024 and June, exacerbating the housing shortage issue.

The Solano County Registrar of Voters is set to convene on June 25 to make a decision regarding the new city proposal. The options under consideration include approving the new city, subjecting it to a referendum on the November ballot, or commissioning a report to assess its potential impact before placing it on the ballot.

While the California Forever proposal has garnered support, it has also faced opposition. Democrat California U.S. House Representative Mike Thompson, who represents the county, expressed concerns about the proposed development, stating that it could disrupt the way of life in Solano County and exacerbate congestion on already strained highways and roads.

Jan Sramek, the CEO of California Forever and former Goldman Sachs banker, believes that if the proposal goes to the voters in November, it will serve as a "referendum on what do we want the future of California to be." Sramek argues that the California Forever proposal offers an alternative to the current stagnation in the state's housing development.

California Forever aims to build a new city on 18,600 acres of land in east Solano County. The initial phase of construction aims to provide 20,000 homes for approximately 50,000 residents, with the potential for the population to eventually reach 400,000. The organizers have pledged to invest $500 million in benefits for the existing community in Solano County, along with an additional $200 million to improve major settlements in the area.

As the decision looms, the California Forever project has the potential to reshape Solano County's landscape and address the pressing housing shortage issue. The community now awaits the Registrar's decision on the fate of this ambitious new city proposal.