Elon Musk is reportedly planning to build a company town in which Tesla, Boring, and SpaceX employees could live. According to The Wall Street Journal, the proposed town would be called Snailbrook and would be located approximately 35 miles from Austin, Texas.
The publication obtained documents outlining plans to construct 110 homes near Boring and SpaceX facilities in Bastrop County. According to the report, Boring employees were invited to apply for housing last year, with rents expected to start around $800 per month for a two- or three-bedroom home. The workers would be paying below-market rates because the median rent in nearby Bastrop is around $2,200 per month.
Employees who lived in the town, however, would be even more beholden to Elon Musk. They would pay him rent in addition to his salary from his businesses.
If they were fired or otherwise left the company, they would have 30 days to leave the house, according to the report. Executives have talked about inviting employees from Elon Musk’s other companies to apply for Snailbrook housing as well — Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory is about a 30-minute drive from Bastrop.
The town’s plans include converting a house into a Montessori school for up to 15 students, as well as incorporation. The latter would allow Elon Musk to impose rules on the municipality, which would presumably have to hold a mayoral election.
According to public records, entities in Elon Musk’s orbit have purchased at least 3,500 acres of land in the Austin area in recent years. Musk, his architect, former girlfriend Grimes, and Ye (aka Kanye West) reportedly discussed ideas for the town several times last year, though nothing was finalised as a result of those discussions.
Meanwhile, nearby residents have expressed concern about the projects’ environmental impact. According to the Journal, Boring has applied to discharge up to 140,000 gallons of industrial wastewater into the Colorado River per day. Concerns have also been raised about the impact of Boring’s tunnelling machines testing on groundwater and wells.
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