By Alex Girda, Associate Editor<\/p>\n
Google has brought many good things to its hometown of Mountain View. But the Bay Area might have had\u00a0enough. Google was highly criticized by local officials for its\u00a0plans to build several bridges over a creek that separates its current campus and a newly leased lot. That was the breaking point in what has been a seemingly fruitful partnership. Google now plans to construct around 1.2 million square feet of buildings on the newly leased land, which would include recreation facilities, corporate housing as well as several offices, The Wall Street Journal <\/em>reports.<\/p>\n The flak over the bridges came about because it necessitated moving public trails used by area commuters and outdoor enthusiasts. Google assured city officials that the trails would remain open to the public,\u00a0and the officials ultimately opted to raise\u00a0the topic for discussion at a later meeting.<\/p>\n The proposed construction on the new lot has also hit some speed bumps, but of greater concern for officials is the technology giant\u2019s future plans. Some buildings Google owns in Mountain View are to be torn down and the land redeveloped with denser, corporate housing-oriented buildings. That doesn\u2019t sound too good to city council members such as Laura Marcias, who was quoted by the\u00a0WSJ <\/em>as saying that such a move would change the layout of the area, which is currently reliant on its wildlife-oriented appeal. She added that the city may not be open to developing land to the extent of Google\u2019s intentions.<\/p>\n The Internet company currently leases or owns more than 4 million square feet of office space in Mountain View, but the city is ready to push legislation regarding land use for the entire area. Several of Google\u2019s proposed developments would entail zoning requirement changes. The city currently receives $9.5 million in annual property tax from the Web company alone. It also provides free wireless Internet service to the city and its 75,000 residents, as well as $1 million for local school funding. This successful partnership could enter a new phase, considering the recent blowback, <\/em>with Google\u2019s 10,000-person roster and development plans in Mountain View continually increasing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Alex Girda, Associate Editor
\nGoogle has brought many good things to its hometown of Mountain View. But the Bay Area might have had\u00a0enough. Google was highly criticized by local officials for its\u00a0plans to build several bridges over a creek that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21742,1609],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004053259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest","category-san-francisco"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n