Google Wants Mountain View To Change Zoning Laws

TechCrunch reports Google sent a letter to the zoning board in the City of Mountain View, trying to encourage the city to change the zoning laws near the Google headquarters. Currently, the areas around the Googleplex are zoned only for commercial use.

Google wants to enable their employees to be closer to the Googleplex, which will make for happier employees. Right now, the transportation to and from Google is not the best for many Googlers. Google spends a lot of money on private buses from San Francisco and other locations to make that commute less of a burden.

Here is an excerpt from the letter, as posted at TechCrunch:

We are writing you to express our preferences for the future of Google s continued growth in the City of Mountain View We would encourage you to provide opportunities for the North Bayshore area to continue to be the center of sustainable development for Google’s HQ campus

Our goals for Google s HQ are to provide a future redevelopment that is nurturing and regenerative to the environment provide a vibrant community and worklife balance for all and efficiently manage transportation and pedestrian access needs. This must include mixed uses office retail and residential along with the kind of land use development described in the Final Report by the Mountain View Environmental Sustainability Task Force. We encourage you to be the model Silicon Valley community leading the way with visionary development opportunities to create the most efficient sustainable and fiscally supportive plan to the community of Mountain View and the North Bayshore area.