Google may soon become a high profile entity in Stockton, at least for a short period of time.

CNET was reporting Tuesday that Google was planning on moving its mystery barge docked at Treasure Island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay up the Deep Sea Channel to the Port of Stockton. That’s just 18 miles as the drone flies from downtown Manteca.

Google has been forced to stop construction on the barge that consists of four stories worth of shipping containers being fashioned into a structure. The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission red tagged it since it did not have the proper permits. They were given a deadline to submit a permit request and could face up to a $30,000 fine.

Google obtaining the proper permit would be dicey at best since what it is doing isn’t exactly allowed under existing BCDC rules.

What the barge ultimately will be used for has been the subject of a lot of speculation since Google isn’t talking. High tech experts believe it will be used as a demonstration and marketing facility for Google Glass as well as various Google X products.

Since the barge can be towed, it means it could be moved to various major cities with ports up and down the coast as well as elsewhere in the world.

If the Google barge does end up in Stockton where it could continue construction outside of the jurisdictional reach of the BCDC it would be great publicity for the port as  well as Stockton as a well.