City Commission - Special Meeting

Good afternoon.

Yes, good afternoon and welcome to the City Commission of the City of Brownsville. Mayor, may we call the special meeting to order?

Yes, please.

PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 551, TITLE 5 OF THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE, THE TEXAS OPEN MEETINGS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THE CITY COMMISSION IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 5 SECTION 12 OF THE CHARTER OF SAID CITY WILL CONVENE AT A SPECIAL MEETING TODAY ON AUGUST 21ST, 2026. THE TIME IS 12.01 P.M. HERE IN THE CHAMBERS ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE BROWNSVILLE CITY HALL, OLD FEDERAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 1001 EAST ELIZABETH STREET, BROWNSVILLE, CAMERON COUNTY, TEXAS 78520. we will um continue with the roll call we'll start with mayor john cowan jr president uh commissioner uh uh tino villarreal president uh commissioner narenth balansky uh commissioner brian martinez president commissioner linda macias uh commissioner uh gustavo de leon

Present, ma'am.

And Commissioner Pedro Cardenas.

Present.

We do have a quorum to continue with the meeting. Next, we'll have the public comment period, which we did not receive any public comment prior to the meeting. And at this time, the next item is the executive session.

So moved. All right. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you.

All right. Passes 5-0. So we do have one executive session, which is closed pursuant to the Texas Government Code Section 551.071 in regards to Project Quantum. The City Commission will enter into executive session. The time is 12.02 PM. We will return. Good afternoon. May we reconvene into open session?

Yes, please.

Thank you, Mayor. The time is 2.40 p.m. We are reconvening into open session. Is there any possible action on any items discussed? We will move on to the first public hearing item. It's public hearing and action on the first reading on Ordinance Number 2026-1823 of the City of Brownsville to disannex and herein after to reduce the City of Brownsville's uh, corporate and the, and the extra, uh, uh, territorial, uh, uh, jurisdiction, uh, boundary limits, a property described as being, uh, 444.45 acres of a track of land, more or less out of track eight share seven of, of the San Martin grant Cameron county, Texas together. And, uh, with all the adjacent rights of way as described in, in, in the exhibit aid to the attached ordinance located in district two.

So Mayor and City Commission, we have received a request to release from the city limits or de-annex the portion here where the arrow is highlighting. Next slide. So that blue portion to release the tract from the city limits and ETJ. For perspective, the landfill is adjacent to much of this land and we do have the um applicant here if you have any questions hello everyone can we open up for public hearing sure at this time i'd like to open up for public hearing hi everyone i'm sheila mccorkle um i'm one of our

leaders at SpaceX. I'm also a resident of Starbase. I've been here for two and a half years and happy to answer any questions today.

I think I have a couple of questions. Who owns the property?

SpaceX is in the process of purchasing, so SpaceX is the owner of the property.

And why do you all feel the need to de-annex from the city of Brownsville?

Sure, that's a great question. So you can see Hopefully, you've had a chance to come down and visit what we're building down at Starbase. We incorporated it into a city. I'm on the advisory committee for the city of Starbase. We've been able to bring services out there, and we need to expand to do certain additional operations related to our manufacturing. And a lot of the land that's closer to Starbase is either owned by the port or it's federal land. or state land. And so this parcel does serve as a good location for our expansion related to some of our operations. It's in an industrial area next to the port, some of our partners next to the landfill, but it's still close enough for us for it to be logical. So that's one of the reasons and the reason we think it's would be helpful to remove it from the current city limitations is because there are currently no services out there. So there are no utilities, no public utilities, and not a lot of activity out there. And I think with the partnership with Starbase and SpaceX, we can really bring this parcel to life faster than we could under normal circumstances.

let's say you de-annex, obviously, and you expand the operations. At some point, you're gonna have some sort of operations in that parcel. As you know and may have been reading Here in the city of Brownsville and everywhere else, there's a massive concern on our environmental resources, sustainability, the lack of water, so many things that we deal with. How do you plan as a company to help mitigate that?

Sure. We take all of this very seriously. You know, 70% of our workforce is is local, you know, was born and raised in Brownsville or the read or the region. So we we very much consider ourselves neighbors and part of this community and it's our responsibility to contribute. So in that vein, one of the major things that we've been doing is talking to be pub Brownsville public utility who has been a great partner and helping us set up our initial operations and star base and thinking about how we can expand the water supply for the whole region much far beyond what we would need for ourselves to really bring water to the valley. It's a concern across the state and in particular here. And we think there's great opportunities with helping them, for example, expand their wastewater treatment plants, you know, refurbing and creating new brackish wells. And there's also a desalinization plant that already serves the region that we think we could help invest in and potentially expand. Um, we're also willing to offer our engineering resources and other and other things to make sure that project happens in a timely manner. So, um, we, we think of water as liquid gold and that if we bring water to the community, it will benefit not only say sex, but the entire region and the citizens. And so it's something that we're already in discussions with them about.

There, I don't have any other questions.

I think it's important to understand the process. And, you know, obviously, I know there was a request to have this special meeting, we're happy to accommodate what what happens, say, if this does not pass, what recourse do they have as landowners to de annex? And what do you think the, you know, the chances are that they're successful?

Right. So in the last year and a half, the city has been in a process of deannexing requests now that the Texas legislature has made it extremely easy for property owners to be removed from the ETJ and the city limits. Their next recourse would be to, as the state law provides, if we're not providing services out there, they could petition a district court to then require deannexation for lack of services. So that would be their recourse and that would be available to any property owner who has requested the annexation for the purposes of not offering services.

Thank you. Well, I do want to ask, you know, obviously, as. this property is relatively close to our developed areas in the city, right? And I think from a resident perspective, are you planning to have any launch operations on this site?

No, no launch operations or testing or anything to do with the assembled rocket.

So I think it's fair to say that the residents will not be impacted.

My expectation is they won't really even know that it's there. There's the landfill that kind of blocks the view. And then it's next to a lot of other already pretty active industrial things that are happening at the port. So I don't think it'll blend in right as it is.

And I know you mentioned you have been in conversation with BPUB. Are you able to share any information at this stage on what is you know, in terms of dollar amounts being discussed? I know nothing's finalized at this stage, but I think that's helpful to understand.

We have to have some further discussions to understand their needs. My understanding is there's some shortfalls related to water waste expansion. So increasing up to an additional eight million gallons of water a day. That's something that we could invest in and help get helping them get there. And then on the desal plant, it's my understanding that 30% of the water in the region is provided through the desalinization plant, and they want to double the size of it, which is a huge capital project. And it's something that we'd be interested in participating in because, like I said, water is so important. So we're still looking through those numbers, but they would be very substantial investments in order to bring those online.

And I have a follow up. Yeah, go ahead. The question. as probably people are watching this and they're going to uh have their own questions one of the questions that i would ask on behalf of the citizens of brownsville is when you say the investments the some some might get the impression that that spacex would want to take ownership of of the desal plant i i know i just want to be clear yeah that when you talk we all talk about investment it's truly just um we see it as a shared resource for the community and so we would be injecting

money, capital, so that they can complete their projects at a much faster ability for them to do it through raising money through the public or taxes or other things or tariffs or however they get their money. It would be just a straight injection of capital so that they can speed up a project that they've already wanted to do but are having some funding shortfalls.

How fast would you like to complete this deannexation process?

Well, SpaceX is famous for wanting to do things quickly. It's part of our magic, if you will. And so, yeah, we're hoping for a resolution soon, as soon as possible. Like I said, because there are no services out there, if this is not a possibility, then we're probably going to have to look at other locations to expand. because they're not services and the timeframe we're hoping to do this build.

And where else around the state does SpaceX have investments?

In the state? So we have Obviously, Starbase is our headquarters, which we're very proud about. We also have a major site outside of Austin in Bastrop, Texas, where we make our user terminals for Starlink, if you're a user of Starlink. We have a test site in McGregor, Texas. We also recently purchased a large bit of property in Grimes County. Gibbons Creek is the town. And we are building a TerraFab. And we also have operations in Austin. And yeah, Texas has been a great place for SpaceX. And so we love investing here. And we'd love to continue investing where our headquarters is here in the valley.

Thank you. Any further questions or comments from the Commission?

It's not more of a legal question. City Attorney, can you? So if a property owner petitions for de-annexation, can the city really deny it if they meet the criteria that no services are being rendered and they're requesting it?

Yes. I mean, if you receive a request for de-annexation and they're not providing services, you could deny it. and um there is recourse of course there's due process and so they would the property owner would then have that opportunity to ask the district court to decide the de-annexation question and they will look to see whether or not there's been some bad faith dealing on the city's part with when we annexed right that will look back and they will also look back at the service plan that was approved when we annexed that land and determine whether or not we have complied with that annexation plan. And the annexation plan would determine whether we would have provided water, sewer within X number of years. And so, could you deny it? Yes, you could deny it. However, there is recourse for property owners. And this is, I believe, the seventh, if I'm not mistaken, de-annexation in the last year and a half. not from the same applicant. We've had other ones more closer in various areas of the city.

But as long as they meet the criteria of like not getting receiving city services being unused or right like raw land and then requesting that pretty much is all the criteria they have to meet.

Right. So the last de-annexations that we've had have all been for lack of services that were not provided to those landowners.

And this particular tract currently does not receive services?

That is my understanding.

Thank you.

Yes, good afternoon. When do you expect possibly closing on this property?

Today.

Oh, I'll move to close the public hearing, unless you'd like to say something else.

Thank you for your time. Appreciate it very much.

You second. All right. We have a motion and a second to close public hearing. Any further questions? If not, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries.

Six to zero. Macias is absent.

And before you all have discussion or take action, just a reminder, as with all the annexations and anything adopted by the Commission through ordinance, there are two required readings. And so this is the first of two readings.

And, you know, my understanding there are there are potential negotiations happening with BPUP and It is my hope that we would have more information between now and that second reading if this does pass.

That's my understanding.

I'll move to award the petition to the annex.

We have a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. All right. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say aye.

We have one do roll call.

We'll start with Commissioner Martinez. Aye. Commissioner Macias is absent. Commissioner Villarreal.

I think I would like for all the commissioners to be here, but I'll vote aye.

Mayor. Aye. Galanski. Aye.

DeLeon I Agree with Commissioner Ariel. I think all the commissioners should be here on a vote like this. But as for right now, I'm I Okay, and Commissioner Cardenas.

Hi Okay, it passes for the first reading Thank you. And then the next item is adjournment move to adjourn Motion and second to adjourn all those in favor.

Please say aye. Aye. Aye.

I have a motion carries carries We're adjourned at 2 56 p.m. Have a great afternoon