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SOLANO COUNTY – A mysterious corporation has quietly bought upwards of 30,000 acres of windswept agricultural land between Suisun City’s Walmart and Rio Vista and around Travis AFB.

Officials from throughout Solano County have just recently learned of the land sales from century’s old family homesteads. The buyer, listed in county files as Flannery Associates, has a Washington DC attorney who won’t divulge what the land will be used for or who his client is. Two local Realtors handle this end of the transactions and one has contacted old-time farmers and ranchers, asking them to sell. The offers are double the going price of raw Ag land along Highway 12 and, importantly, surrounding Travis AFB. $10,000 to $12,000 per raw acre. The cumulative 55 purchases, which began about two years ago, are almost too good to pass up for families who’ve had the land since it was homesteaded or acquired in land grants. Farmers are allowed to stay on their land, farm it, and keep any profits – until they pass. The family does not inherit the land. Even the windfarm that includes 6,800 acres alone, is now the property of Flannery Associates. Profits from the windfarms will still go to the seller, a source told me. Ranchers and farmers who’ve spent decades working the land are now millionaires. Nobody could begrudge them that. But the mystery: What exactly is the intent of the buyer? Houses? Open space? Natural gas? Or something else? I found out about this on Sunday and dug in. This may be one of the largest land transactions since before Solano County was a county, the township and range days or during land grants. Some of the land has been in the same families since before the formation of Solano County. Now Flannery Associates owns the land. I spoke with John Sweeney, a landowner who posted about the massive land transactions yesterday. Sweeney is a skeptic. I also communicated with fellow elected officials and an attorney in Washington D.C. Today, officials are meeting to discuss what they know. It isn’t much. The most important task is protecting Travis AFB. Who or what is Flannery? The Secretary of State has some insight. The Delaware LLC was formed on Jan. 29, 2018. On February 14, 2019, the corporation filed “for foreign status to do business in California.” The sole managing member is Thomas Mather and the business address is in Folsom. Mather coordinated sales with area farmers and signed deeds as manager for Flannery. I have not been able to reach Mather - yet.

USES Agricultural land is restricted in its use in Solano County. Housing developments are not generally approved. Instead, cities annex land city services such as sewer and water are available. This is long-standing policy in Solano County. While Suisun City would like to grow and bring in businesses, nobody is outwardly talking about annexing 30,000 acres of land. Even if the city tried it, there would be a long rough road. Powerful county officials don’t like the idea, they’ve told me. “That won’t happen,” one said. Again, no elected official in Suisun City has even hinted at such a move, so I believe it’s highly unlikely. Houses are not in the near future there. Retail? Nah. Again, this would need annexation. What about wind farms? This isn’t going to happen either because of interference with Travis AFB’s radars and other high-tech equipment. How about natural gas? Probably not. Natural gas in the area is close to depletion. Flannery apparently isn’t interested. When the corporation bought the land, it did not include mineral rights, which is strange. What about pot farming? Possible, but not legal in the county right now.

The mystery continues for now. Perhaps the land is just a long-term investment, as the corporation’s DC lawyer said. Perhaps.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sacramento/comments/c96bkb/a_mysterious_corporation_has_quietly_bought/