The Tribune
June 9, 2001
Story by Stephanie Finucane
A South County woman trying to establish a butterfly conservatory and botanical garden in Nipomo said an anonymous donor has agreed to provide a down payment on a large piece of property.
Sheila Boone - a descendant of Daniel Boone - said she couldn't reveal the name of the donor or the amount of the financial commitment, other than to say it's in the six-figure range.
"I think we're going to see the reality of this project," said Boone, who thinks it will take at a year to go through the permitting process and two years to build the large, glass-domed conservatory that would be the centerpiece of the complex. It would house rare butterflies from around the world.
Nipomo has the perfect climate for the $300 million project Boone said. She's calling it the Daniel Boone Butterfly Palace in honor of her ancestor.
She's negotiated for more than a year to purchase 290 acres west of Highway 101 and north of Sandydale Road. Called the Canada Ranch property, it's land the Lucia Mar Unified School District considered buying for a new high school. Boone also has been looking at a couple of alternative sites in case the Canada Ranch property proves unavailable.
The complex would include the conservatory, five or six museums, an education and research center and 150 acres of botanical gardens. It would require a parking lot the size of the one at Hearst Castle, Boone said, but she thinks it could be screened so it wouldn't be visible to passing motorists.
She thinks the Butterfly Palace would attract as many as one million visitors during the first year of operation and up to two million a year after that.
"This would be a major deal," said Jay Johnson, the county planner assigned to the Nipomo area.
They'd need to come in and speak with us and have a pre-application meeting,' Johnson said, outlining the first steps the applicants would need to follow. "They'd also want to touch base with the Nipomo Community Advisory Council."
Boone's nonprofit Butterfly Palace Inc. hasn't submitted any formal application to the county, but she said she has discussed the project with many local leaders. "We've never gotten any negative vibrations at all on the project," she said.
The land she's interested in requires preparation of a specific plan before it can be developed. Types of uses that could be allowed there include an industrial park, shops - as long as they don't conflict with the downtown - housing and open space.
Boone, who has been working on the project for five years, said it would be easier to get grants and donations from the oil industry, agriculture and high-tech corporations, botanical societies and garden clubs once the land is secured.
More information about the project is available on the group's Web site, butterflypalace.org, and on a television documentary that airs on Charter Communications channel 10 at 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays and at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays.
Stephanie Finucane covers the South County or the
Tribune. Story ideas and news tips can be emailed to her at
sfinucane@thetribunenews.com or phone to 781-7939.
S. Boone Productions