A firm has come under scrutiny from a US national security panel after it purchased nearly $1 billion land next to an air base.
A firm called Flannery Associates purchased nearly $1 billion in land next to Travis Air Force Base in Solano County - between Sacramento and San Francisco - to develop a city with 'walkable neighborhoods, clean energy, sustainable infrastructure, good jobs and a healthy environment'.
However, with the firm not having been named until recently, and the 52,000 acres of land it's bought being right next to the air base, the project raised the suspicions of a US national security panel.
In July 2023, a mystery company was confirmed to have bought $800 million-worth of farmland near Travis Air Force Base.
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Earlier this year in April, New York had proposed a plan to enforce a restriction to 'ban entities owned by foreign adversaries' - preventing countries such as China or Russia owning farm land on US soil.
The proposal was suggested amid rising concerns over the US' vulnerability to intelligence operations, particularly from China and the purchase of the land near Travis Air Force Base added to these fears.
Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara (D-Schenectady) said, as quoted by the New York Post: "In the midst of national security concerns related to spying, it is important that the United States not allow foreign adversaries like the Chinese government to continue purchasing large amounts of agricultural land."
With Flannery Associates not having immediately been named as the company which purchased the land, and the group unheard of until now, founder and CEO of California Forever - the parent company of Flannery Associates - Jan Sramek has reassured suspicions.
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He told KCRA3 on Thursday (9 November): "We're just trying to build a great walkable community that everyday residents of Solano County and other places can live in.
"We have water rights sufficient to build a community and we're looking at acquiring additional ones. We would build our own water treatment plant, sewer treatment plant, all the infrastructure we would build ourselves."
Sramek - a former Goldman Sachs trader - told ABC10 the group didn't announce their plans 'prematurely' because they feared there'd be a rush of 'speculation'.
He adds the group 'never had the intention' to buy land next to an air force base, initially buying property away from it, only eventually buying near to it to 'worl with the base to protect it and strengthen it'.
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Sramek also reassured Flannery Associates is simply made up of a group of Silicon Valley billionaires and tells KCRA3 the name of Flannery Associates was inspired by a road name located within the area.
On California Forever's website, responding to questions about if the utopian city will impact the air base, the company states: "Any project we may propose in Eastern Solano County, and that County residents may elect to support, would protect and support Travis Air Force Base, including compliance with requirements enacted by Solano County for the Travis Reserve Area.
"We are committed to working closely with the Air Force to make certain that we protect and support the base. The City of Fairfield’s eastern neighborhoods are only 0.8 miles and the One Lake neighborhood currently under construction is only 0.7 miles from the base. Any proposed project neighborhood would be located further away from Travis than these communities."
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