One of the smallest municipalities in Solano County has taken a step that may enable California Forever, the billionaire-backed plan to build a new city between San Francisco and Sacramento, to move forward without approval from the rural county’s voters.

Suisun City, which spans about four square miles south of Fairfield, voted last week to explore annexing unincorporated county land outside the city’s border which includes a large part of the nearly 60,000 acres that were acquired by California Forever investors aiming to build a new walkable, mixed-use city from scratch.

If approved, the annexation could shift part of the development from county to city land and circumvent California’s Orderly Growth Initiative, which requires major developments on unincorporated county land to be approved by county voters, the San Francisco Business Times reported.