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The election was set for May 3 and votes can only be cast by
residents living near the launch site that 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 more than 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 responded to a request for comment by referring to the
company's earlier statement in December.
Kathryn Lueders, Starbase's general manager, 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.
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