Texas county approves holding election to make SpaceX’s Starbase its own city

McALLEN, Texas — A Texas county on Wednesday approved holding an election sought by SpaceX that would let residents living around billionaire Elon Musk ‘s company decide whether to formally create a new city called Starbase.

The election was set for May 3 and votes can only be cast by residents living near the launch site which is currently part of an unincorporated area of Cameron County, located along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In December, more than 70 area residents signed a petition requesting an election to make Starbase its own municipality. Most of the residents are company employees and the community includes over 100 children, according to copies of the petition obtained by The Associated Press.

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño said the county reviewed the petition and found it met the state’s requirements for the incorporation process to move forward.

“If the election passes, this will be the newest town in Cameron County since Los Indios in 1995,” Treviño said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing the outcome of this election.”

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Kathryn Lueders, Starbase’s general manager, has previously said that the incorporation would streamline certain processes to build amenities in the area. Some local environmental advocates have expressed worry about what the effects would mean for development.

SpaceX’s launch site broke ground in Texas in 2014. Only 10 of the roughly 250 lots of land within the proposed new city limits do not belong to the company.

More than 3,400 full-time SpaceX employees and contractors work at the Starbase site, according to a local impact study issued by the county last year.

Musk has long been planting business roots in Texas and has spread them far and wide across the Lone Star State. The billionaire moved to Texas in 2020 and relocated to or expanded a number of his companies in the state, citing the state’s business-friendly climate.

Tesla’s massive, 10-million-square-foot (930,000-square-meter) Gigafactory, where the company makes its Cybertrucks, opened near Austin in 2022 and will also serve as the company headquarters.