SpaceX is giving Brownsville $220M for water projects. In exchange, the city gave up zoning control of 444 acres near Starbase

Brownsville commissioners approved two high-stakes deals with SpaceX after a 6-hour-long raucous municipal meeting that included two executive sessions and stretched into Saturday night. 

The first deal is a memorandum of understanding described to the public as a binding contract that a SpaceX vice president of legal and regulatory affairs agreed to sign on Saturday after the meeting to get the process started for the rocket-launching company to donate $220 million for regional water projects. 

The second deal, which SpaceX described as an interconnected agreement but was a separate city commission vote, was to remove a 444-acre plot of land from the city of Brownsville’s zoning jurisdiction to disannex privately owned property. 

Collectively, the deals are known as Project Quantum, an effort supported by the Brownsville Economic Development Corporation, which testified in favor of the projects. Brownsville EDC estimates SpaceX has invested more than $3.2 billion since 2014 and employs nearly 5,000 people. Brownsville EDC top executive Gilbert Salinas called the project a chance that comes once in a hundred years.