McALLEN, Texas — A Texas county on Wednesday accredited holding an election sought by SpaceX that will let residents residing round billionaire Elon Musk ‘s firm determine whether or not to formally create a brand new metropolis known as Starbase.
The election was set for Could 3 and votes can solely be solid by residents residing close to the launch web site which is presently a part of an unincorporated space of Cameron County, positioned alongside the U.S.-Mexico border.
In December, greater than 70 space residents signed a petition requesting an election to make Starbase its personal municipality. A lot of the residents are firm staff and the group contains over 100 kids, in response to copies of the petition obtained by The Related Press.
Cameron County Decide Eddie Treviño stated the county reviewed the petition and located it met the state’s necessities for the incorporation course of to maneuver ahead.
“If the election passes, this would be the latest city in Cameron County since Los Indios in 1995,” Treviño stated in an announcement. “We look ahead to seeing the end result of this election.”
SpaceX didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Wednesday.
Kathryn Lueders, Starbase’s common supervisor, has beforehand stated that the incorporation would streamline sure processes to construct facilities within the space. Some native environmental advocates have expressed fear about what the results would imply for improvement.
SpaceX’s launch web site broke floor in Texas in 2014. Solely 10 of the roughly 250 a number of land throughout the proposed new metropolis limits don’t belong to the corporate.
Greater than 3,400 full-time SpaceX staff and contractors work on the Starbase web site, in response to a neighborhood influence examine issued by the county final 12 months.
Musk has lengthy been planting enterprise roots in Texas and has unfold them far and huge throughout the Lone Star State. The billionaire moved to Texas in 2020 and relocated to or expanded a lot of his firms within the state, citing the state’s business-friendly local weather.
Tesla’s large, 10-million-square-foot (930,000-square-meter) Gigafactory, the place the corporate makes its Cybertrucks, opened close to Austin in 2022 and also will function the corporate headquarters.