Boca Chica Village, Texas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Boca Chica Village
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Map of Boca Chica Village and the surrounding area
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| Country |  United States |
| State |  Texas |
| County | Cameron |
| Kennedy Shores | 1967 |
| Kopernik Shores | 1975 |
| Elevation | 3 ft (0.9 m) |
| Population
(2000)
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| • Total | 26 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Bridges | Veterans Bridge, B&M Bridge |
Boca Chica Village (also known as Kopernik Shores) is a small community in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It's not an official city, but a small area where people live. It was started in the late 1960s.
Since 2018, the village has changed a lot. This is because the space company SpaceX bought much of the land there. Boca Chica Village is about 20 miles (32 km) east of Brownsville. It is located on the Boca Chica peninsula, near the South Bay lagoon. It's also about 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of where the Rio Grande river meets the ocean.
In 2014, Boca Chica Village was chosen as the place for a control center for the SpaceX South Texas launch site. The actual launch site was built about 2 miles (3.2 km) further east. Starting in 2019, SpaceX began testing its prototype rocket vehicles and rocket engines there.
In March 2021, Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX, announced plans to create a new city called Starbase, Texas. This new city is planned to include Boca Chica Village, the SpaceX test site, and the launch site.
Contents
History of Boca Chica Village
How Boca Chica Village Started
The village was first called Kennedy Shores. It was founded in 1967 by John Caputa, a property developer from Chicago. He wanted to create a community for Polish immigrants who were looking for work. About 30 ranch-style houses were built.
Later that year, Hurricane Beulah hit the area. It caused a lot of damage, destroying the local restaurant and the water systems. Electricity was fixed, but many homes did not have clean drinking water for many years.
Name Change and Population
In 1975, a local resident named Stanley Piotrowicz became the town's mayor. He decided to rename the village Kopernik Shores. This name honors Nicolaus Copernicus, a famous astronomer. Piotrowicz tried to make the village an official city, but this was not approved.
In 1990 and 2000, the village had 26 residents. By 2008, only six people lived there permanently. This number dropped to four people in two homes by 2017. However, about 12 seasonal residents would stay there at different times of the year.
SpaceX Arrives in Boca Chica
SpaceX Chooses the Location
In 2012, SpaceX, a company that builds rockets and spacecraft, started looking at the Boca Chica area for a new launch site. They began buying land in the area that same year.
In August 2014, SpaceX announced that they had chosen Boca Chica for their South Texas Launch Site. They said their main control center would be in the village itself. The actual launch pad would be about 2 miles (3.2 km) to the east. Construction started slowly in 2014, but it really picked up around 2018.
Rocket Testing and Safety Concerns
Since 2019, SpaceX has been testing its SpaceX Starship rockets and Raptor engines. These tests have continued into 2021. Because the village is only a few miles from the test site, officials from Cameron County had to take safety steps.
The FAA, which is a government agency that oversees air travel and space launches, set rules for these tests. Starting in August 2019, Cameron County officials asked residents to stand outside their homes during tests that involved loading rocket fuel. This was a safety measure. They were worried that if a test went wrong and there was an explosion, the shockwaves could break windows in the homes.
Impact on Residents and Property Offers
Some people have called the launch site area a "sacrifice zone." This means it's an area where certain activities, like rocket testing, are done, even if they cause problems for the local environment or residents. Elon Musk himself said in 2018 that they had "a load of land with nobody around, so if it blows up, its cool."
When the launch site was being built, many villagers' homes were bought by SpaceX. In September 2019, SpaceX offered to buy each house in Boca Chica Village for three times its fair market value. They also offered VIP invitations to future rocket launches. This offer was described as "non-negotiable," and homeowners were initially given two weeks to decide.
Some homeowners were happy with the offer and decided to sell. Others were not, saying that the offer didn't consider improvements they had made to their homes. They felt the offer was based only on county tax values, not a full appraisal of each house.
The Houston Chronicle newspaper reported that the county government was also thinking about what was best for the larger area. This included the local economy, schools, and quality of life for the hundreds of thousands of people in Cameron County. Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. said that while it was difficult for the few remaining homeowners, the county had to consider the needs of the wider community.
The New York Times reported that SpaceX extended the offer period by three weeks. This gave property owners more time to work with the county to get their home values adjusted for improvements. By March 2020, many residents who accepted the offers had moved away.
A small number of homeowners did not accept SpaceX's offer and remained in the village in October 2020. SpaceX's Senior Director of Finance, David Finlay, told these residents that this was SpaceX's "final and best offer." He also warned that if they didn't sell, SpaceX might have to find other ways to get the homes. He explained that as rocket activities increased, their properties would often be in "hazard zones" where no civilians would be allowed for safety reasons.
Plans for Starbase, Texas
In March 2021, Elon Musk announced his intention to make Boca Chica Village part of a new city called Starbase, Texas. The County Judge of Cameron County, Eddie Treviño Jr., said that the county officials were aware of SpaceX's plan. He also stated that SpaceX would need to follow all state laws for creating a new city.
The plan for Starbase is to include the original Boca Chica Village area, where the homes and SpaceX's buildings are. It would also include the SpaceX test site and launch site. Starbase is meant to be a much larger city than just Boca Chica Village.
