Starbase, the area in Cameron County, Texas, where billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company operates, will soon be an officialcity.
Eligible residents in Starbase, most of whom are SpaceX employees, voted in an election on Saturday in favor of incorporating a patch of land as the new municipality, according to BBC News.
A total of 212 people voted yes to establishing the city while six opposed the effort, according to results published online by Cameron County.
“Starbase, Texas is now a real city!” Musk, who has a residence in the area, reacted on X.
MUSK, TESLA BOARD CHAIR DENY REPORT ON SEARCH FOR NEW CEO
Some nearby residents have criticized the measure to create a new city and accused SpaceX of harming the local environment. SpaceX was fined nearly $150,000 last year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for dumping waste water.
The possibility of incorporation as a city had been floated for years before a petition in December paved the way for Saturday’s vote, BBC News reported.
The city government will include a mayor and two commissioners who will have authority over planning, taxation and other local issues. The first mayor will be Bobby Peden, vice president of Texas’ test and launch operations at SpaceX. Peden, and two other residents with SpaceX ties who will fill the two commissioner seats, ran unopposed.
The new city covers about 1.6 sq. miles, which was sparsely populated before SpaceX began purchasing land in 2012. Starbase will be a Type C city, which is a municipality category of under 5,000 people that includes allowing officials to impose a property tax of up to 1.5%, according to the Texas Municipal League.
SpaceX housing and facilities have popped up in the area since the company began purchasing land, as well as a road called Memes Street and a giant bust of Musk himself, which has been vandalized, according to BBC News.
SPACEX AND ITS PARTNERS EMERGE AS FRONTRUNNERS TO BUILD PART OF TRUMP’S GOLDEN DOME PROJECT: REPORT
A bill currently in the Texas legislature could give Starbase officials the power to close a local highway and limit access to nearby Boca Chica Beach and Boca Chica State Park during rocket launches, a measure opposed by county officials.
As it stands now, closures around SpaceX launches are managed by the county, which includes the nearby city of Brownsville and the resort town of South Padre Island.
Read the full article here
