Architects for Google presented plans for a daycare facility for 250 children alongside Palo Alto's Baylands to the Architectural Review Board Thursday.

The site at 1129 San Antonio Ave. lies just across the street from another Google daycare facility for 80 children under construction at 3801 E. Bayshore Road. Google offices are also nearby in Mountain View.

The board's preliminary review required no vote, but members said they liked the plans despite concerns about parking.

The proposal calls for tearing down three existing office buildings susceptible to flooding because they lie below a federally required eight-foot mark and replacing them with a one-story row of classrooms and play spaces.

The buildings, bordered by salt marshes and a utility yard, would measure about 46,500 square feet, project manager David Blitz of the Staubach Company said.

Different colors and roof lines would break up monotony of the long, low shape, architect Chris Dorman said.

Google currently uses Mountain View's former Slater Elementary School as a campus for its so-called "Kinderplex," as well as a few classrooms at Theuerkauf Elementary School, according to Mountain View Whisman School District's Executive Assistant to the Superintendent, Kathi Lilga.

While the lease on Slater extends another four years, the lease at Theuerkauf is set to expire in June, although the school board may vote to extend it this spring, Lilga said.

The new complex on San Antonio Road is not a replacement for Theuerkauf and Slater, which currently accomodate more than 300 children, Google spokesperson Sunny Gettinger said.

Board members Thursday praised Dorman's use of a narrow space but asked whether the strip of parking and perimeter road could be improved.

"If it was retail it would be called a strip mall," Board Chair David Solnick said.

But the requirement to have 70-foot turn-arounds for emergency vehicles leaves few options for altering parking and roads, Dorman said.

Board member Judith Wasserman advised Dorman to "capitalize on Google's coach service" or the free transportation provided to employees in order to minimize parking spaces and traffic on the site.

Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.