#Elon Musk wants to create a new city called ‘Starbase’ in Texas

SpaceX is building its own company town.

CEO Elon Musk said he wants to create a new city called “Starbase” around the rocket-building company’s southeast Texas launch site.

In a series of Twitter posts about his plans, the billionaire tech tycoon said the city would encompass an “area much larger than Boca Chica,” the unincorporated seaside village where SpaceX built its massive rocket facility.

Officials in Texas’ Cameron County, which includes Boca Chica, confirmed SpaceX had approached them about incorporating Starbase as a city in the last few days.

But the California-based company would have to follow a series of bureaucratic steps to bring the plans to fruition, officials said.

“If SpaceX and Elon Musk would like to pursue down this path, they must abide by all state incorporation statutes,” Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, the county’s top official, said in a statement Tuesday. “Cameron County will process any appropriate petitions in conformity with applicable law.”

To create a new city, SpaceX would have to get local residents to sign a petition that it would submit to the county judge, who would then order an election on whether the municipality should be incorporated, according to the Texas Municipal League. If the election is successful, the city would have the power to create its own laws and other ordinances.

SpaceX has already effectively taken over most of Boca Chica, a small community that sits on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico and about two miles north of the Rio Grande.

The company broke ground on its launch facility in 2014 and started testing rockets there in 2019. As work on the project progressed, SpaceX gradually bought up most of Boca Chica’s three dozen homes, though a few homeowners had refused to sell as of late last year, according to reports.

Musk’s desire to create his own city is the latest sign that he’s putting down roots in Texas. He moved to the Lone Star State from California last year and his electric-car maker, Tesla, plans to build a factory in Austin.

SpaceX is also planning to break ground on a new facility in Austin to support the growth of its Starlink satellite internet service, the company revealed in a job posting.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.