Starbase, Texas is now a thing after SpaceX employees and residents vote to incorporate

SpaceX employees and residents who live at what was formerly known as Boca Chica Village, or Kopernik Shores, voted Saturday to incorporate as a municipality.

The early vote was 173 to 4.

The election was initiated in December after Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. received a petition from more than 10% of the several hundred eligible voters who are residents of Starbase.

Since the petition met requirements of the Texas Local Government Code, the county judge was required to call an election.

Starbase will now be incorporated as a Type C general law municipality, or one with more than 201 but fewer than 4,999 residents.

The move comes as state Reps. Janie Lopez, R-San Benito, and Adam Hinojosa, R-Corpus Christi, are pushing a bill to allow Starbase to control weekday closures of Boca Chica Beach — instead of Cameron County, which is opposed to the proposal.

Starbase’s new mayor is Bobby Peden, vice president of SpaceX test and launch operations.

The new municipality’s city commissioners are Jordan Buss and Jenna Petrzelka.

The Texas Tribune reports that Petrzelka worked for SpaceX from 2012 to 2024. The nonprofit news outlet reports that her husband Joseph Edward Petrzelka is SpaceX’s vice president.

Buss is SpaceX’s environmental and health and safety director.

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