County judge approves election to decide whether SpaceX launch site will become a city

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Cameron County’s top elected official on Wednesday signed an order clearing the way for an election that would allow employees of SpaceX’s South Texas launch site to make it the county’s newest city.

The order, signed by County Judge Eddie Treviño, approves a petition filed in December by several SpaceX employees requesting an election to determine whether their Starbase headquarters could become a town under the same name.

The would-be town is roughly 25 miles east of Brownsville along the Gulf of Mexico.

If approved by voters in the town’s proposed area, the base would become a Type C municipality, defined as less than two square miles with 200 to 5,000 residents. Type C municipalities use a commission form of government with a mayor and two commissioners; the petition notes that SpaceX’s security manager, Gunnar Milburn, is the sole candidate for mayor.

The petition required at least 10% of potential residents to sign, and a simple majority is required in the election to create the new city. The petition had just over 70 signatures and an affidavit attached to the judge’s order showed just under 500 people living in the area, including almost 120 children.

Almost all of the signatures on the petitions were by people with addresses the affidavit marked as residences of SpaceX employees.

The affidavit also states that SpaceX owns almost all of the homes; just four homes listed in the affidavit are not owned by SpaceX, which also owns all of the land within the prospective city’s footprint, “with only a few exceptions.”

When asked for comment, SpaceX referred the Tribune to a December letter sent to Treviño by Starbase’s general manager, Kathryn Lueders. The letter says SpaceX already manages roads, schools and utilities that local governments usually maintain, and establishing a city would move management of those services to a “more appropriate public body.

“Incorporating Starbase will streamline the processes required to build the amenities necessary to make the area a world class place to live,” Lueders said in the statement.

Election Day for the city’s creation would be May 3, with early voting occurring in late April. Treviño said in a statement that Starbase would be the first new city in Cameron County since the addition of Los Indios in 1995.