(KRON) — Plans have surfaced for another tech-backed utopian community in Northern California. While plans around “California Forever,” a tech billionaire-backed community proposed for Solano County have gone somewhat quiet, this week there was a meeting around another, similar community proposed for neighboring Sonoma County.
The proposed development is called “Esmeralda.” Unlike California Forever, which is basically a plan to build a new city from scratch, Esmeralda would be developed within the existing city limits of Cloverdale. The Esmeralda plan calls for the development of a “walkable, compact village” on an existing site within Cloverdale.
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The site, according to the plan’s website, offers “stunning views of the Mayacamas Mountains” and has been approved for development for 20 years. A development plan for the 266-acre site includes up to 605 units of housing, a flagship hotel, retail and office space, a private golf course and “some light industrial uses.”
The Esmeralda project, according to its website, is inspired by Chautauqua, a pedestrian-friendly town in western New York that hosts lectures and workshops every summer…