A separate city for employees? That’s what Elon Musk in planning for SpaceX

A whole town just for a company’s employees, this might become true as, founder and CEO of SpaceX has plans to build a township for the company’s employees in Texas, USA.  

For this project, SpaceX has filed a petition requesting for a separate municipality, Starbase, in coastal South Texas, base of the company’s rocket launch facilities. The SpaceX security manager is anticipated to serve as the first mayor if the planned city is approved. 

The request for petition comes as Musk make a shift from California to Texas for some of its operations to the coastal town. Building Starbase has been the tech entrepreneur's dream for which he has been preparing but the urgency to build such a town came after SpaceX employees started shifting to the launch site’s surrounding and temporary housing.  

The employees of the company have themselves submitted an official petition to Cameron County pleading for voting to be held for the building of a new city, a report by the New York Times said. The petition includes preliminary plans for the city, and if the petition is accepted, Elon Musk would become the first businessman to do so and make history. 

If the town gets a nod.... 

To have such a plan in place, a minimum number of residents and majority voters are required, according to law. This requirement may soon be fulfilled as SpaceX employees have started moving near the SpaceX launch site in housing societies in Texas.   

If the plan gets enough votes, the voters would be allowed to choose three city officials, including Gunnar Milburn, SpaceX's security manager, as the proposed first mayor. The petition mentions a community consisting of approximately 500 people, including 219 primary residents and over 100 children, residing near Boca Chica Beach at the end of State Highway 4. The proposed town measures 1.5 square miles, which is a relatively small standard in terms of Texas and most residents are renters and employees of Texas.  

But the petition does not mention any benefits or reasons for building Starbase. For a separate city, separate police and fire departments would be required and laws of its own to enact ordinances.  

Furthermore, it has been rumored that Musk is looking at the possibility of housing staff in a facility outside Bastrop, close to Austin. Musk's business endeavors are concentrating in this region, which will soon have offices for the social media network X (previously Twitter), a SpaceX manufacturing facility, and the headquarters of the Boring Company, which specializes in tunneling technology.