Fairfield was laid out by Captain Robert Waterman in 1856 and became the Solano County seat in 1858 when voters ratified moving it from Benicia, with Waterman donating land at Texas and Union Streets ahead of the city's 1903 incorporation. That same ground now anchors Fairfield's food and beverage plants, from the Jelly Belly manufacturing site to former brewery buildings, and keeps demand steady for food industry laser cleaning and stainless weld passivation. Laser cleaning strips rust, coatings, and weld discoloration from stainless tanks and conveyors without the chemical residue food-plant sanitation audits flag.
Fairfield's Air Rules Run Through BAAQMD, Not the Vacaville District
Fairfield sits in the southwestern portion of the county under the Bay Area air district, along with Vallejo, not the Yolo-Solano district that covers Vacaville, Dixon, and Rio Vista. Fairfield's Travis Air Force Base and the Jelly Belly plant both sit inside that same Fairfield jurisdiction, and neither site's own permits stand in for the air district's authorization on outdoor work.
Sources(1 reference)
southwestern portion of the county baaqmd.gov (opens in new tab) — The Air District has jurisdiction over the southwestern portion of the county, which includes Vallejo and Fairfield.
Fairfield Laser Cleaning FAQ
What kind of industrial sites in Fairfield still need laser cleaning?
Cal/OSHA Title 8 sets the workplace safety rules that apply to surface prep on stainless production lines, and Fairfield keeps plenty of that work. Fairfield is the Solano County seat, home to Travis Air Force Base, and Jelly Belly's Fairfield manufacturing, distribution, and Visitor Center remain active even after Ferrara cut 69 corporate jobs at the Fairfield office in 2026.
How does Fairfield's air district affect local cleaning choices?
Fairfield sits inside the Bay Area air district that covers Vallejo and Fairfield, and that district requires local shops to limit how much solvent and dust they release into the air. Fairfield manufacturers use laser cleaning instead of chemical strippers because it clears rust, paint, and oxide from stainless equipment without adding solvent fumes the district would flag. Fairfield's Jelly Belly plant and its distribution site near Travis Air Force Base both run stainless lines.
Why does Fairfield's status as county seat still matter today?
Fairfield became the Solano County seat in 1858, when voters approved Captain Robert Waterman's plan to move it there from Benicia. Fairfield still runs county permitting from that same seat, so Jelly Belly's Fairfield plant and other local shops go through Fairfield offices for facility approvals.
Sources(2 references)
Cal/OSHA Title 8 dir.ca.gov (opens in new tab) — Cal/OSHA Title 8 sets California workplace safety rules that apply to industrial surface preparation.
Jelly Belly fox40.com (opens in new tab) — Ferrara cut 69 corporate positions at its Fairfield office in 2026, while Jelly Belly's Fairfield manufacturing, distribution, and Visitor Center kept operating.
How Fairfield Became the Solano County Seat
Fairfield is the Solano County seat because Captain Robert H. Waterman laid the town out in 1856, named it after his hometown in Connecticut, and in 1858 won a ballot to move the county seat from Benicia after he donated sixteen acres at Texas and Union Streets. Fairfield then put up the first county buildings in 1860 and incorporated as a city in 1903, so the same Waterman plat still holds the courthouse that Vacaville never held.
Fairfield has held the Solano County seat since voters ratified Waterman's 1858 offer to move it from Benicia, and the city later annexed the Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base, by then renamed Travis Air Force Base, on 30 March 1966.
Captain Robert H. Waterman laid out Fairfield in 1856 and named it after his Connecticut hometown, then in 1858 persuaded voters to move the county seat from Benicia to Fairfield by donating sixteen acres at Texas and Union Streets for new county buildings. The first county buildings opened in 1860, and Fairfield incorporated as a city in 1903, giving the young county seat a permanent civic core that later drew the Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base, built in 1942 and annexed to the city on 30 March 1966.
Fairfield's county-seat status was decided by a ballot measure, not inherited from its Connecticut namesake: after Waterman donated sixteen acres at Texas and Union Streets in 1858, voters still had to ratify moving the seat away from Benicia before the first county buildings rose in 1860, a contrast with Vacaville, which never held the county seat.
Confectionery manufacturing at the Jelly Belly plant, 1 Jelly Belly Lane
Beverage-can manufacturing at Ball Metal Beverage, 2400 Huntington Drive
Cookware manufacturing at Meyer Cookware, 2001 Meyer Way
Sources(1 reference)
Captain Robert H. Waterman fairfield.ca.gov (opens in new tab) — 1856 Captain Robert H. Waterman laid out the townsite of Fairfield, which he named after his hometown in Connecticut. 1858 Waterman made an offer to the county government to have the county seat moved from Benicia to Fairfield. The proposal was placed on the ballot and ratified by voters in the November election and Fairfield became the new county seat. As promised, Waterman donated sixteen acres of land to the county, at the corner of Texas and Union Streets, for new county buildings.
Confirming the Right Fairfield Site First
Fairfield requires care in picking the job site since it mixes an active Travis Air Force Base, a running Jelly Belly plant, and a shuttered Anheuser-Busch brewery. Fairfield's Anheuser-Busch brewery closed for good on February 22, leaving the 170-acre site idle, so the failure modes below start with confirming which plant is actually still working.
Condition
Mitigation / Limit
Quoting the closed Anheuser-Busch brewery as if it still runs a production line[1]
Confirm current occupancy of the site before locking a service date. Do not carry over an operating-brewery scope onto a shuttered plant.
Treating Travis Air Force Base as a walk-up industrial shop with open public access[1]
Route any Travis-adjacent job through the base's own access and contracting process before committing to a date. Do not assume the entry rules of a civilian plant apply.
Filing Fairfield air-quality paperwork under Yolo-Solano air district rules[1]
Confirm BAAQMD jurisdiction for the Fairfield address before submitting any air-district paperwork tied to the job.
Reusing a Vacaville biologics-stainless cleaning spec on a Fairfield candy-plant job[1]
Pull surface and contamination specs from the Fairfield candy plant directly instead of carrying over a Vacaville biologics brief.
Sources(1 reference)
Anheuser-Busch cbsnews.com (opens in new tab) — The Fairfield Anheuser-Busch brewery closed for good on Feb. 22, ending operations on its 170-acre site off Interstate 80.
Fairfield's Air Base and Candy Plant Anchors
Fairfield runs on two anchors that outlast headline layoffs, Travis Air Force Base and the Jelly Belly plant. Travis held its 2026 State of the Base on March 20, 2026, the same season Jelly Belly's Fairfield manufacturing and Visitor Center kept running through 69 corporate layoffs.
Parameter
Value
Conditions / Source
Air district
BAAQMD, southwestern Solano County (not YSAQMD)
Travis AFB annexed
March 30, 1966
Jelly Belly plant status
Manufacturing and Visitor Center continue after 69 corporate layoffs
Anheuser-Busch brewery
Closed February 22, 2026
Town founded
1856 by Captain Robert H. Waterman
County seat won
1858, moved from Benicia
City incorporated
1903
Sources(1 reference)
State of the Base dvidshub.net (opens in new tab) — Travis Air Force Base held its 2026 State of the Base ceremony, hosted by the 60th Air Mobility Wing, on March 20, 2026.
Fairfield's Service Area Map Marks Active and Closed Plants
The City of Fairfield's service area keeps to plant sites inside city limits, from Jelly Belly's active manufacturing campus on Jelly Belly Lane to Ball Metal's can plant on Huntington Drive and Meyer Cookware on Meyer Way. Anheuser-Busch's former Fairfield brewery on Busch Drive shows on the map as closed rather than operating, since the 170-acre site off Interstate 80 wound down through its February 2026 shutdown. Vacaville and Suisun City sit close enough to share this stretch of Solano County, but their plants fall off this Fairfield-only map.
Cookware warehouse steel. Plant class, not a claimed account
Sources(1 reference)
City of Fairfield fairfield.ca.gov (opens in new tab) — The City of Fairfield publishes official city information for residents and businesses.
Food-Plant Stainless Work in Fairfield
Food-plant stainless equipment in Fairfield requires clean welds and residue-free surfaces before it returns to production. Stainless tanks, conveyors, and weld seams inside these Fairfield food-processing plants pick up heat-tint and oxide scale that chemical stripping leaves behind as a residue risk in a food-grade zone. Laser cleaning removes that discoloration and passivates the weld surface without abrasive media, so no embedded grit or chemical contaminant carries into the next production run. Sanitation teams clear that equipment the same shift once the surface passes a food-safety wipe test, an outcome chemical or abrasive stripping cannot match without an added rinse and dry cycle. The work here is potential, tied to Fairfield's food-plant class rather than any single confirmed stainless account.
