Plans for a sprawling 2,300-acre "Sustainable City USA" in rural Kaufman County are off the table, at least for now, after weeks of heated local opposition and a fresh look from state officials. U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden says the Dubai-based developers have quietly backed away from the unincorporated county site, shelving a proposal that had quickly turned into a culture-war lightning rod.
Gooden told The Daily Caller that he urged the team behind the project to "step back and reconsider" after residents raised alarms. Within 24 hours, he said, the developers "decided not to move forward in Kaufman County." The outlet reported the reversal after locals began asking pointed questions about closed-door meetings and water-district requests tied to the proposal. Gooden told the site he now considers the matter closed.
What the project would have looked like
The development pitch came from SEE Holding and envisioned an AI-enabled, mixed-use community spread across roughly 2,300 acres near Farm-to-Market Road 1836, County Road 146 and State Highway 243, as reported by The Dallas Morning News. The concept promised walkable neighborhoods, local jobs, smart energy systems and a mix of housing types, all to be delivered through a Texas subsidiary.
On its own site, SEE Holding describes The Sustainable City model as a scalable net-zero community with existing versions in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The Kaufman County project was pitched as the first U.S. iteration of that template.
Why neighbors pushed back
Residents and some local officials balked at the sheer scale of the proposal and questioned how it would reshape a largely rural stretch of the county. They also flagged amenities advertised at SEE Holding’s overseas communities, including mosques, as a reason to demand far more transparency around what exactly would be built in Texas.
Activists and commenters pressed county leaders to release a full set of plans and hold public hearings on any water-district arrangements before approvals were granted. The fight echoed earlier disputes over another proposed Muslim-linked development in the region, turning the Kaufman County blueprint into a flashpoint for cultural and land-use anxieties, according to The Dallas Express.
State probe and political fallout
The Texas Attorney General’s Office opened a formal inquiry in February and issued Requests to Examine to SEE Holding and Kaufman Solar LLC, seeking records related to land purchases and communications with public officials, according to a press release from the AG’s office.
The Office of the Attorney General said the records requests are meant to clarify the nature of the development and determine whether any unlawful actions were involved.
What happens next
For now, SEE Holding has not said whether it will hunt for another tract in Texas or look elsewhere in the United States. The decision to walk away from Kaufman County was reported after Gooden’s comments to The Daily Caller, but the company itself has not publicly laid out any next steps.
County records and prior reporting indicate no site plan, plat or formal development application had been filed with Kaufman County at the time the controversy boiled over. That means any future effort, whether on this tract or another, would still have to run the usual gauntlet of public hearings, water-district approvals and county reviews before a single shovel hits the dirt.
For now, the land stays as is while the broader fight over foreign investment, land use and transparency in North Texas rolls on. Local officials say they will insist on full disclosure and an open public process if this project, or anything like it, makes a return appearance.
