Voters in South Texas overwhelmingly approved the decision to create the city of Starbase around the SpaceX test site, which will be led by the company’s managers.
Voters in South Texas overwhelmingly approved the decision to create the city of Starbase around the SpaceX test site, which will be led by the company’s managers.
As Bloomberg reports, residents of the remote community surrounding the rocket launch site and SpaceX headquarters voted overwhelmingly to join the city by a margin of 212 votes to 6, according to results posted on the county elections website.
At the same time, voters also approved the city’s first elected officials, all three of whom are current or former SpaceX employees and ran unopposed.
Virtually all of the residents of the 1.45-square-mile area are employees of the vast Musk manufacturing plant that dominates the coastal town, or members of their families.
SpaceX says the company has been unable to provide enough housing for the hundreds of workers who want to live near its headquarters. A recent attempt to build more townhouses was rejected by the county.
About 260 SpaceX employees live in the enclave on the southern edge of Texas; their partners and families bring the total population to about 500. Another 3,100 commute from Brownsville, the nearest major city, or from other communities.
Until 2018, the area was a regular coastal settlement, when SpaceX began building and testing Starship, a rocket for flights to Mars. Within a few years, the neighboring village near the site, Boca Chica, has transformed into a high-tech city from which to watch the rocket launches.
The city sometimes looks like a set for a science fiction movie, with futuristic manufacturing facilities, neat rows of almost identical houses, and a massive bronze bust of Elon Musk.
For the past seven years, SpaceX has been actively transforming the former Boca Chica community, once considered a sparsely populated retirement community, into a manufacturing hub for its Starship launch program, which Elon Musk envisions as the basis for a human colony on Mars.
According to SpaceX, the area is currently home to about 260 of the company’s employees. Including their families, the total population is approaching 500. More than 3,000 more commute daily from the nearby city of Brownsville and other communities.
Despite infrastructure development, the company faces difficulties in providing housing for employees: a recent project to build new housing was rejected by local authorities.
The city also features a bronze bust of Elon Musk and numerous manufacturing facilities, which observers say create an atmosphere similar to a science fiction movie.
The new Starbase government will have limitations if it gains municipal powers after the election. The city cannot develop its own charter — the population must be 5,000. However, the state of Texas gives cities a lot of autonomy. Officials can initiate the creation of a police or fire department. They can open libraries, parks or establish municipal courts.
However, such services require money. Typically, city budgets are filled with sales taxes or property fees. However, the largest owner of real estate in Starbase is SpaceX.
The new government may focus on passing regulations that regulate noise levels, traffic, rules of conduct in public places, or building regulations.
«The smallest city in Texas has more zoning authority than the largest county or even the state,» says Alan Bohorquez, a lawyer specializing in Texas municipal law. «The city can control how an area is developed and how land is divided into different uses: commercial, industrial, and residential.» However, this will create problems for private landowners within Starbase.
SpaceX’s private security guards already patrol the city and clash with «outsiders.» A few years ago, a Texas prosecutor warned the company after its guards blocked a road. He called it an abuse of authority, but the case never went to court.
In addition to Starbase, SpaceX wants to gain control of Boca Chica Beach, an undeveloped coastal area. To safely launch a rocket, the company’s management needs to close the beach and the surrounding area to visitors each time. SpaceX has to formulate an appeal to the county government, which they would like to avoid . However, the Texas legislature rejected a similar initiative to transfer this authority. The US Federal Aviation Administration continues to regulate approvals for rocket launches and landings.
Starbase is not only an experiment in urban planning. It is also a test of how well a modern state can respond to new forms of power.
