Starbase Louisiana Housing Crunch Starts Early: Proposed RV Park Pitches Crews as Parish Weighs 50-Space Cap

A proposed RV park aims at the crews

Starbase Louisiana is still years from a first launch, but housing for the people who would build it is already being marketed. The Rocket Farm, a proposed "contractor campground" at 10729 Farmer Road near Kaplan, advertises 17 full-hookup RV spaces: 14 monthly and 3 nightly (Rocket Farm website).

The Advocate reported reservations at $700 a month (The Advocate, Oct. 21). The park's own rate page lists two monthly tiers: $700 plus metered electric for 50-amp spaces and $650 plus metered electric for 30-amp spaces, with $55 a night for the three flexible spaces. It calls these "planned opening rates for Phase 1" that are "not yet a contract" and remain subject to construction cost, utility rates and permitting. A $250 deposit holds a space (Rocket Farm spaces page).

What's only proposed: The park is not open. Its website says "Coming soon," with Phase 1 targeted for 2027 and 23 spaces after a planned Phase 2 (Rocket Farm plan page). The Advocate reported that the land sale has not closed and is still pending (The Advocate). The park's site says the land is "already under contract."

The park says it is about 30 miles from the planned launch site, measured "by bearing," and says it will post a road distance once the gate location and access roads are final (Rocket Farm directions page). The site is at Freshwater City in Vermilion Parish, with Pecan Island as the neighboring community.

According to The Advocate, Louisiana Secretary of State records list Brison McPhail as the owner, and the business was filed Sept. 23 (The Advocate). We have not independently checked those records.

The parish's RV rules

The Vermilion Parish Police Jury has been working on an RV ordinance. The Advocate reports that the draft would cap RV parks at 50 on-site spaces and require parks that border residential neighborhoods to put up privacy fencing at their own expense (The Advocate). We could not find the ordinance text posted publicly, so those details come from The Advocate's reporting.

The parish's own records show more movement than "under consideration." At an Oct. 7 special meeting, according to minutes posted as "NOT SIGNED," the Police Jury "unanimously carried" a motion approving "the RV Ordinance as revised once Legal Counsel finalizes it" (Oct. 7 minutes). The Advocate's Oct. 21 story says the Police Jury "has not finalized" the regulations. Both can be true: the jury voted, but the final text is still with its lawyer and hasn't been published. Approval of the Oct. 7 minutes was on the jury's Oct. 21 agenda (Oct. 21 agenda). We have not seen what happened at that meeting.

In The Advocate's reporting, Parish Administrator Keith Roy backed the limits: "Do you really want hundreds of RVs next to your house?" Scott Broussard, whom the paper calls a critic, asked: "If they put up a subdivision, are we going to tell them how many houses they're allowed to put up?" (The Advocate).

What Musk said on the earnings call

On SpaceX's third-quarter earnings call Oct. 20, Elon Musk said the Louisiana spaceport "will, I think, at some point, probably have on the order of 20 or more launch towers and enable the transport of millions of tonnes per year to orbit and beyond" (Motley Fool transcript).

When an investor question asked about Starbase Louisiana's timeline, Musk said: "our internal aspiration for first launch from Louisiana is actually in two years. So '28 would be -- is our goal. But I think '29 is highly likely" (Motley Fool transcript).

What the state's plan actually says

Musk's comments are an executive's forecast. They are not commitments in the state's plan. Louisiana Economic Development's project page says that at full buildout the site "is expected to include five launch complexes with two launch pads each," with construction "beginning by the end of 2027" and "the first launch targeted as soon as 2029" (LED).

LED lists a $100 billion-plus investment, 3,000 direct new jobs over 10 years at an average salary of $92,600, and about 8,100 indirect jobs (LED).

Independent. Not affiliated with SpaceX, Vermilion Parish, or the State of Louisiana.