As if it weren't bad enough that SpaceX now has its own company town, the Elon Musk-owned company is almost immediately trying to mess with its residents' property rights.

In a memo leaked to CNBC, the newly-formed town of Starbase, Texas informed people who own or live on land located within the company town's limits that they may "lose the right to continue using" their property "for its current use" thanks to proposed zoning restrictions.

On June 23, Starbase's City Commission is holding, per the letter, a public hearing to draw its zoning map, which will break down how the roughly 1.6-square-mile town will carve up the land it now controls.

What's more, residents will only have 72 hours before that hearing to preview Starbase's proposed zoning map, which will include how it plans to break down its "mixed-use district" that will include "residential, office, retail, and small-scale service uses."

As the Texas Tribune reported earlier this month, estimates taken prior to Starbase's incorporation found that the land had about 500 people living on it, with a bit over half of them being SpaceX employees. While it's unclear how many of those residents own the property on which they live, the effect remains the same: that many, if not most, are facing having their land snatched from them by Musk's multi-billion-dollar spaceflight company.

The vote to officially incorporate Starbase into a city was, according to that Tribune article, only available to some 283 residents living within the proposed city limits. In a landslide victory, 212 voted in favor of incorporation, while just six opposed.

Now, the vast majority who voted in favor of the town's creation are at risk of losing their property thanks to the decision.

It remains unclear exactly what would happen to the property owners and tenants if and when Starbase claims it. To us, however, it sounds a lot like the constitutionally-enshrined doctrine of eminent domain, in which the government can seize private property for public use, regardless of the owner's will, so long as it pays them "just compensation" determined by current market values.

As people opposed to the incorporation told the Tribune, there are also concerns that Starbase becoming an official city could pave the way for Musk to gain control over the public Boca Chica Beach, which environmental and indigenous advocates alike oppose due to the damage SpaceX launches have done to its delicate ecosystem.

"These hills here are sacred to us," Juan Mancias, the chair of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, told the Tribune. "[SpaceX and Musk] don’t know the history of the land, and they’re trying to erase that."

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