SpaceX is building its own company city.
CEO Elon Musk said he wants to create a new city called “Starbase” around the launch site of the Southeast Texas Missile Construction Company.
In a series of Posts on Twitter about his plans, the billionaire technical tycoon said that the city would include an “area much larger than Boca Chica”, the village on the unincorporated coast where SpaceX built its massive rocket.
Officials in Cameron County, Texas, which includes Boca Chica, have confirmed that SpaceX has approached them in recent days about incorporating Starbase as a city.
But the California company should follow a series of bureaucratic steps to implement the plans, officials said.
“If SpaceX and Elon Musk want to follow this path, they must abide by all state incorporation statutes,” Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, the county’s chief official, said in a statement Tuesday. “Cameron County will process any appropriate petition in accordance with applicable law.”
To create a new city, SpaceX should get residents to sign a petition that will be submitted to the county judge, who will then order elections if the municipality should be incorporated, according to the Texas Municipal League. If the election is successful, the city would have the power to create its own laws and other ordinances.
SpaceX has already effectively taken over most of Boca Chica, a small community located on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and about two miles north of Rio Grande.
The company started the launch pad in 2014 and began testing missiles there in 2019. As project work progressed, SpaceX gradually bought most of Boca Chica’s three dozen homes, although a few owners had refused to sell until the end. last year. , according to reports.
Musk’s desire to create his own city is the latest sign that he has his roots in Texas. He moved to Lone Star State in California last year, and his electric car maker Tesla plans to build a factory in Austin.
SpaceX also plans to open a new facility in Austin to support the development of its Starlink satellite Internet service, the company revealed in a post.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.