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The neighbors of Elon Musk’s new ‘utopian’ town appear to have lost patience with the SpaceX and Boring mogul as local authorities have hit Musk with a slew of violations.
DailyMail.com showed off a first glimpse of Snailbrook, the Texas utopia that Elon Musk is creating for his SpaceX and Boring employees, in March.
However, local residents in Bastrop County – where Snailbrook is being built – are getting tired of what construction is doing to the local livestock and the companies’ attempt to dump wastewater into the Colorado River.
‘I just have no faith that the leadership there values the environment and these shared resources,’ Chap Ambrose, a YouTuber and previously avowed Musk fan who has sounded the alarm about his development efforts.
‘I would say, I’m still a fan [of Elon], but I want him to do better here and be a good neighbor,’ Ambrose – who has run a series of videos called ‘Keep Bastrop Boring’ – added.
The neighbors of Elon Musk’s new ‘utopian’ town in Texas appear to have lost patience with the SpaceX and Boring mogul as local authorities have hit Musk with a slew of violations
Settling in: Musk, shown in April last year, ditched California for Texas for good, withdrawing millions of dollars from the state
In Ambrose’s videos, there is footage of crews bulldozing trees and pumping untreated water into a roadside ditch.
Musk has begun spending billions to build campuses for SpaceX and Boring Company across the Lone Star State, with the co-sign of Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
‘There is no greater entrepreneur in the entire world than Elon Musk,’ Abbott said earlier in May.
Despite widespread approval of Musk and the jobs and industry he’s bringing to Texas, many are saying he’s simply moving too fast.
Ambrose and his wife have noted the construction often runs ’24/7′ with noise and spotlights shining all night.
The FAA has grounded SpaceX’s launch program after they exploded a rocket over the Gulf of Mexico, citing the need to ‘perform analyses to ensure that the public was not exposed to unacceptable risks.’
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported ‘numerous large concrete chunks, stainless steel sheets, metal and other objects’ as well as a cloud of concrete flying over the region.
Wildlife groups have also filed a lawsuit against the FAA citing the environmental harms the launch has posed to the region.
‘I just have no faith that the leadership there values the environment and these shared resources,’ Chap Ambrose, a YouTuber and previously avowed Musk fan who has sounded the alarm about his development efforts
Highway signs lead drivers towards Johnson City or Bastrop, Texas
An aerial view of Elon Musk’s Snailbrook community under construction on March 13, 2023, in Bastrop County
Local officials have had their own complaints, with the Bastrop County’s former director of engineering and development saying they were ‘regularly hounded’ by Boring Company staff, according to the Washington Post.
He argued they were consistently trying ‘to expedite and approve permit applications that are incomplete and not in compliance.’
The Texas Department of Transportation has slapped Boring with violations for building an unpermitted driveway and having unauthorized holding tanks for wastewater.
However, there’s not really a ton the county and state can do about it, says Bastrop Commissioner Mel Hamner.
‘This is Texas. This is called property rights,’ Hamner said. ‘If you own the property and you stay within the state laws, you can pretty much do what you want.’
Hamner has admitted Musk’s development is ‘more than this county was ready to handle’ and environmentally-conscious residents agree.
‘Between Elon Musk coming in here and all the sand and gravel mines … suddenly this bucolic, pastoral prime farmland is now more than a thousand acres of an industrial site,’ local organic farmer Skip Connett said.
‘There’s no zoning, there are no rules. It’s the Wild West.’
In his videos, Ambrose has often shown footage of crews bulldozing trees and pumping untreated water into a roadside ditch
The most recent flack has been over Boring’s application to treat its own wastewater from the construction site and discharge it either onto its own land or the Colorado River.
Several hundred people showed up to a meeting asked for by Ambrose, with Boring only sending an environmental consultant.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has already given preliminary approval, but Bastrop city Mayor Connie Schroeder wants them to use the city’s new plant.
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‘We all know that’s what’s best for the Colorado [River],’ Schroeder said.
Boring’s environmental team said that they will eventually use the city’s plant but are not connected to it yet.
Judah Ross, a local real estate agent who attended the meeting, said the company seemed ‘evasive’ and he had a simple request for Musk, whom he thinks highly of.
‘I love Elon, and we need more industry here,’ Ross said. ‘I just don’t want him to dump his poop in the river.’
It was revealed in February that top brass at Boring Co., Musk’s tunneling operation, had discussed how to incorporate their own town in Bastrop County.
Not only could Musk provide cheap housing for his employees, but it would allow the magnate to set regulations and help grease the wheels for his ambitious building projects.
His Austin area employees, which include staff at Boring, electric-car maker Tesla and his space exploration firm, SpaceX, would ideally all live in the brand new homes nestled in thousands of acres of farmland beside the Colorado River.
Musk, his ex-girlfriend Grimes, Kanye West and the rapper’s architect held multiple discussions over the last year about the design of the town, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
There are multiple three-bedroom properties in Snailbrook, which Musk plans to rent to his staff for $800-a-month, a highly competitive rate for the area
The Boring Company is Musk’s tunneling business which he aims to use to develop transport networks beneath American cities
Another gargantuan HQ at Snailbrook is expected to be used for SpaceX. Musk has consulted his ex-girlfriend and Kanye West – whose own plans for communities failed – about his project
Signs hanging around the community date the town as being founded in 2021. Musk ditched California for Texas in the same year in a protest over taxes and labor costs
Bastrop County has not yet received any application by Musk to incorporate the town. This would require at least 201 residents and approval from a county judge.
Musk opened his new Tesla factory dubbed Giga Texas in April last year. The sprawling plant spread across 2,500 acres of Travis County outside Austin is billed as the manufacturing hub for the Model Y and the future home of the Cybertruck.
In neighboring Bastrop County, his tunneling firm Boring is building a new warehouse, while SpaceX is building a 12-acre facility. The proposed Snailbrook ‘utopia’ for his employees is just a half-mile up the road.
Snailbrook takes its name from Boring’s mascot, a snail named Gary – a reference to the SpongeBob cartoon character of the same name.
Photos uploaded to Facebook by locals show signs hanging which say, ‘Welcome. Snailbrook, TX, est. 2021.’
The site already includes a number of trailer homes, a pool, an outdoor recreation area and a gym.
Children’s slides and trampolines in the back yards of some of the houses, which share covered parking. The community is surrounded by wire fencing
An aerial view of the Boring Company HQ site in Snailbrook. Musk moved the company to Texas last year after raising $675million in funding
The community pool and sports court in Snailbrook, where residents and their families can relax. There is also a small putting green and play area
He’s watching! Surveillance cameras are dotted along the wire fences, adorned with fake leaves, in the rural community
Musk is said to have planned to put 110 homes on the site, with warehouses or factories for two of his companies
While Musk is laying down some roots in Texas, he has agreed to move Tesla HQ back to California.
Musk, 51, moved Tesla down to Austin, Texas in the fall of 2021 over tax breaks, the cheaper cost of labor, and a battle between himself and local health officials.
Questions remain as to how Governor Gavin Newsom was able lure the car manufacturer back to California, a state he has been vocally critical of since he left.
He has called it a haven of overregulation, over taxation and accused the state’s leadership of complacency.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
