Treviño signs order for election to decide whether SpaceX launch site becomes a city

3 weeks ago 56

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. has signed an order allowing residents living at and around SpaceX’s Starbase facility to vote on whether to set up a small township.

A petition requesting an election to determine whether Starbase, Texas, should be incorporated as a city was submitted last December.

Treviño said that working alongside Cameron County’s elections administrator and the county’s civil legal division, he gave the petition careful review. He said he has signed an order finding satisfactory proof in support of the statutory requirements being met for petition for incorporation of Starbase as a Type-C General Law Municipality.

“If the election passes, this will be the newest town in Cameron County since Los Indios in 1995. We look forward to seeing the outcome of this election,” Treviño said.

The incorporation petition, Treviño explained, was duly signed by at least ten percent of the qualified voters of Starbase. Additionally, the petition satisfied the statutorily required elements and set forth satisfactory proof that Starbase contains the requisite number of inhabitants as required by law and the area to be incorporated is not part of another incorporated city or town.

Since the submitted petition met all statutory requirements, Treviño said he is required under Section 8.009 of the Texas Local Government Code to order that an incorporation election be held on a specific date and at a designate place in the community.

The election is set to occur during the general election on Saturday, May 3rd, 2025, from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm at the “HUB” located at 39046 LBJ Blvd., Brownsville, Texas 78521. Early voting will occur at this same location April 22nd through Friday, April 25th from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, Saturday, April 26th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and April 28th through April 29th from 9:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Lueders letter

Kathryn Lueders, general manager of Starbase wrote to Treviño about the matter on Dec. 12, 2024. Here is a copy of the letter:

Dear Judge Treviño,

On behalf of the entire Starbase community, I am pleased to submit this petition requesting an election to determine whether Starbase, Texas, should be incorporated as a city.

Starbase is home to the development and production of SpaceX’s Starship, a project designed to fundamentally alter humanity’s access to space. We are investing billions in infrastructure and generating hundreds of millions in income and taxes for local businesses and government, all with the goal of making South Texas the Gateway to Mars.

SpaceX is proud to play a major role in the South Texas and Cameron County communities, which are home to thousands of our employees, with several hundred living at Starbase. To continue growing the workforce necessary to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community. That is why we are requesting that Cameron County call an election to enable the incorporation of Starbase as the newest city in the Rio Grande Valley.

Incorporating Starbase will streamline the processes required to build the amenities necessary to make the area a world class place to live — for the hundreds already calling it home, as well as for prospective workers eager to help build humanity’s future in space. As you know, through agreements with the County, SpaceX currently performs several civil functions around Starbase due to its remote location, including management of the roads, utilities, and the provision of schooling and medical care for the residents. Incorporation would move the management of some of these functions to a more appropriate public body.

We want to emphasize that incorporation will have no impact on SpaceX’s commitment to being a science-backed steward of the local environment, nor on the extensive list of environmental mitigations developed in conjunction with state and federal agencies to minimize the impact of operations at Starbase. We will also continue our efforts to be a force for good in the area by funding public works projects in the County, supporting the conservation of local flora and fauna, and contributing to organizations like the Friends of Laguna Atascosa NWR Adopt-an-Ocelot Program, the Peregrine Fund, and the Gladys Porter Zoo. SpaceX and its Starbase employees and residents are already taking an active role in improving the environment, with quarterly cleanups of Boca Chica Beach and State Highway 4, and partnerships with Sea Turtle Inc. to find and transport injured sea turtles to the local nonprofit’s facilities for treatment. SpaceX also fosters environmental education at the local level by hosting school tours and an Annual Environmental Education Day, in collaboration with Texas Parks and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and Sea Turtle Inc.

Starbase is a one-of-a-kind location for manufacturing, testing, and launching the most advanced rocket and spaceships ever conceived — a fully and rapidly reusable system that paves the way for humanity’s return to the Moon and eventual travel to Mars. We look forward to continuing its transformation into a world-class hub for the men and women working to make life multiplanetary.

Finally, we would like to express our sincerest gratitude for Cameron County’s support, guidance, and partnership over the years. We believe incorporation will only strengthen and deepen our commitment and ties to the area.

Ad astra,

Kathryn Lueders

General Manager, Starbase

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