(Bloomberg) -- California Forever, the billionaire-backed effort to develop a new city northeast of San Francisco, unveiled a list of the first employers penciling in hiring plans for the area, a key goal for the project.

A dozen companies in tech, manufacturing and finance expressed interest in adding jobs in the proposed Solano County project if voters approve a local ballot measure in November to loosen land-use regulations, California Forever said Thursday. While the commitments are nonbinding, some of the prospective employers have already started negotiating terms for future space. 

The job pledges add to California Forever’s campaign to gain voter support for its plan to turn a sleepy agricultural corner of the Bay Area into a thriving city. With backers such as former Sequoia Capital Chairman Michael Moritz and social-impact investor Laurene Powell Jobs, the controversial project has won over some local residents while drawing fire from others who accuse the would-be developer of using strong-arm tactics to compel landowners to sell. 

California Forever has already gathered enough signatures from residents to win a spot on the ballot for proposed zoning changes that would allow the company to develop land now slated for agriculture and wind power. The employers that have signed onto the project would help the company meet its goal of bringing 15,000 local jobs paying at least $88,000 a year for future residents. 

The businesses include media company Freethink; drone maker Zipline; Brex, a financial-services provider; and Serve Robotics, an AI-powered delivery company backed by Uber Technologies Inc. and Nvidia Corp. They didn’t commit to specific employment targets. 

Investor Backing

Some of the prospective employers have received backing from California Forever’s investors. Meter, which builds internet infrastructure for businesses, has received funding from Sequoia. 

Hadrian, an aerospace manufacturer, has support from Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s biggest venture capital firms. Marc Andreessen, co-founder of the venture capital titan, is one of the lead investors in California Forever.

“We are excited by the vision of amazing neighborhoods located next to a manufacturing zone designed to accelerate innovation in California,” Chris Power, Hadrian’s founder and chief executive officer, said in a statement. If the project was shovel-ready today, “we would already be looking at acquiring space for a new factory there.”

The development also includes plans to build a solar farm and regional battery-storage facility, creating more than 1,300 full-time jobs during construction and generating $281 million a year. The solar farm would be able to supply power to 1.5 million homes. 

If approved by voters in November, the zoning changes would green-light the first phase of development to build on 17,500 acres for the new city. That part of the project could house 50,000 residents. 

Over the past six years, a group led by Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader who is the founder and CEO California Forever, has spent about $900 million to acquire 62,000 acres of farmland for the project. 

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