Suisun City's election could decide California Forever's fate

California Forever is not on Suisun City's November 3 ballot. Three of the five seats on the city council are, and the people who win them will decide whether the city keeps studying a plan to annex 22,873 acres of the company's land and grow about nine times larger.

That makes Tuesday the closest thing to a vote on California Forever that anyone in Solano County has had since the company pulled its countywide measure in 2024. One mayoral candidate has promised to end the talks on his first day. The rest want to keep going, at least until the city's environmental review comes out.

What the annexation actually is

California Forever spent years buying farmland in eastern Solano County, then dropped its East Solano Plan ballot measure in July 2024 after polling showed it would lose. The new route runs through Suisun City. If a city annexes the land, the county's 1984 growth limits stop applying, and the decision moves to the city council and then to Solano County's Local Agency Formation Commission, the state-created board that approves boundary changes.

The company filed its formal application in October 2025, CBS Sacramento reported. The city's Notice of Preparation, filed with the state on November 12, 2025, describes the numbers. The 22,873 acres would include a 20-year plan on about 6,080 acres with roughly 65,217 homes, 60 million square feet of commercial space, 84,479 jobs and 150,000 people. Full buildout would reach about 173,913 homes and 400,000 people, near State Route 12 and State Route 113.

For scale, Suisun City today has fewer than 30,000 residents. The first phase alone would make it five times bigger.

Where the nine candidates stand

Five people are running for mayor and four for the two council seats, according to KQED's voter guides for mayor and council. Here is where each stands on annexation.

Hernandez says she is not sure the plan would fix the city's long-running budget deficit. Pal has voted to explore annexation.

Count it out and the math is simple. A council majority is three votes. Jefferson needs two allies to end the contract, and only he has made that his platform.

The money, and the argument against it

Suisun City has a structural budget gap, and California Forever has offered to help close it. Under the reimbursement agreement the council approved 3 to 1 in June 2025, the company covers the city's study costs and pays $10 million in community benefits, $3.5 million when the environmental report is certified and $6.5 million after the boundary commission approves. In September 2026 a company affiliate closed on a vacant former bank at 701 Main Street, part of a $1.5 million downtown purchase we covered in our post on California Forever's Main Street deal.

Opponents see that as the problem. A 2025 drive to recall the entire council over the annexation talks did not reach a special election, KQED reports. Their concerns are concrete: water for a city of 400,000, traffic on Highway 12, and what a new city would cost the county in services.

We think Suisun City should let the environmental review finish before anyone decides. The Bay Area is short hundreds of thousands of homes, and flat land next to an existing city is where new homes can be built at a price people can pay. Water supply and Highway 12 are serious questions, and the environmental report is the document that has to answer them, with numbers the public can check.

Ending the study now would decide the biggest land-use question in Solano County before anyone has seen the facts. Approving annexation without a published report would be worse. The honest path is the slow one: publish the review, let voters weigh in, as Washington and Garcia propose, then vote.

Suisun City homeowners can wait this out

Nothing changes on Election Day. No homes can be built on the land without a certified environmental report, a council vote and the commission's approval. Our September look at where Solano buyers are going while the project waits put Suisun City's median sale price at about $534,600 in August 2026, per Redfin.

On Houseberry's data, Suisun City is a safe, affordable place with weak school scores. Its six neighborhoods score 3.8 to 4.5 out of 5 on safety, and 1.9 to 2.3 on schools. Montebello Vista, on the east side near the Lambrecht Sports Complex, has the top safety score at 4.5. Victorian Harbor on the waterfront ranks first overall at 3.1. Peterson Ranch, the city's newest subdivision, sits on its northeast edge.

If the plan goes forward, the land east of town along Highway 12 is where the change shows up first: construction traffic, then new shopping and jobs. If it dies, Suisun City keeps its budget gap and its small-town size. Neighboring Fairfield's top neighborhood, Green Valley, scores 4.0 overall, and the best of Vacaville, Browns Valley, scores 3.6.

Questions readers ask

Is California Forever on the November 3 ballot? No. Voters elect a mayor and two councilmembers in Suisun City, and those officials will vote on annexation later.

When could the council vote on annexation? Not before the environmental report is published and certified. Our September reporting found the city targeting approval hearings in spring 2027, and the draft report has not yet been filed with the state.

Who has the final say? Solano County's Local Agency Formation Commission must approve any annexation after the council adopts it.

Whichever way Suisun City votes, compare its six neighborhoods with Fairfield's 17 and Vacaville's 20 on Houseberry's Fairfield ranking before you buy on either side of Highway 12.

Sources

• KQED: California Forever isn't on the ballot, but it's looming large over local elections (October 28, 2026)
• KQED voter guide: Suisun City mayor and Suisun City City Council
• CEQAnet: Suisun Expansion Project, SCH 2025110452
• CBS Sacramento: California Forever submits final application
• City of Suisun City: City Council