Permission slips —

Google’s mystery barge has “got to move” from the SF Bay

Local commission claims work cannot continue without appropriate permits.

Behold: Google's four-story shipping-container product marketing paradise.
Behold: Google's four-story shipping-container product marketing paradise.
KPIX5
Google’s mysterious barge will need to find different moorings if a report from the Associated Press is true. According to the AP, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (SFBCDC) is set to deliver the eviction notice. The AP quotes the commission’s executive director Larry Goldzband as saying simply, “It needs to move.”

According to the commission’s website, permits from the SFBCDC are necessary for “most work” undertaken in the Bay or within 100 feet of the shoreline. Google’s decision to use a temporary facility at Treasure Island seems to have been its undoing. The barge’s size and scope certainly qualifies as “work,” so although Google submitted planning documents with the City of San Francisco, both its and Treasure Island’s failure to apply for SFBCDC permits could put both parties at risk of fines.

The Verge reports that a Google spokesperson confirmed the notice from the commission. The simplest solution seems to be for Google to move the barge to a location where it's permitted.

Google's SF barge is reportedly one of four for the company as of fall 2013—the others include one in Mountain View, California and one each off the coast of Portland, Maine and Portland, Connecticut. In the past, the company has referred to these spaces as "interactive space(s)" for "new technology." Bay Area news station KPIX5 reported the barge contained a showroom and  “party deck” that are  “constructed of interchangeable 40-foot shipping containers." The display spaces were to be outfitted with “chrome features” (get it?) and floor lighting, while the upper party deck planned to incorporate “bars, lanais, and other comforts.”

Channel Ars Technica