SpaceX's Starbase one step closer to becoming official Texas town

CAMERON COUNTY, Texas - Elon Musk's company SpaceX is one step closer to making Starbase, Texas an official town. A judge announced a special election to allow residents in the community to vote on incorporation.

Starbase is the home of SpaceX's starship development and production facility.

It is currently an unincorporated community within Cameron County, in the Rio Grande Valley, roughly 25 miles east of Brownsville.

Incorporating Starbase, Texas

The Process:

The company says in order to fulfill its mission to travel to Mars, they will need to be incorporated.

To become incorporated, a petition had to be filed, and it required at least 10 percent of potential residents to sign. The petition had more than 70 signatures. There are less than 500 people living in the community, which includes about 120 children.

TOPSHOT - The SpaceX Starship lifts off from Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, on November 19, 2024, for the Starship Flight 6 test. SpaceX aborted an attempt to catch the first stage booster of its Starship megarocket in the "chopstick" arms of its l

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Now, a majority vote is required in an election to create a new city. If approved by the voters, the base would become a Type C municipality, which means it is less than two square miles with 200-5,000 residents. 

The city will also have a mayor and two commissioners. SpaceX's security manager, Gunnar Milburn, is the sole candidate for mayor.

Election Day for the city’s creation would be May 3, with early voting in late April.

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Dig deeper:

According to the petition and county documents, almost all the signatures on the petitions were homes of SpaceX employees. All live within the community's proposed boundaries. 

The affidavit also states that SpaceX owns nearly all the homes within the proposed boundaries. The proposed boundary includes about 247 residential lots. Only 10 lots within the boundary are not owned by SpaceX or its employees.

SpaceX currently manages roads, schools and utilities that local governments usually maintain.

READ MORE: Elon Musk's SpaceX hopes to incorporate Starbase, Texas

The backstory:

Elon Musk chose to move the SpaceX headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Starbase in 2024. Musk announced the move after California passed a law that blocks schools from requiring teachers to notify parents if their child identifies as transgender.