![Jenny Weber, president of the Butterfly House, stands next to a conceptual drawing of the new Butterfly House. The drawing was made by students of University of Florida. [RAMON RIOS/PRESS GAZETTE]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-7530b557-9ef8-4661-bcd1-1c404415dec6-c4f8f034-scaled.jpeg)
MILTON — At last weeks’ committee of the whole meeting, City Council members received new news from an old nonprofit organization – The Butterfly House.
“We want to buy the T.W. Jones House on Henry Street in Milton,” said Jenny Weber, a five-year volunteer veteran of the Butterfly House and its current president.
What Weber was really asking the council to approve was a right-of-way on Jones Road so they can bring in buses and build a parking lot for the Butterfly House.
“Did you see our conceptual drawings of the new location?” Weber asks anyone who comes near her.
The Butterfly House is now considered a program of the Keep Santa Rosa Beautiful nonprofit group and the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences.
“We are dedicated to protecting and enhancing the environment through education, awareness and action,” said Kevin Smith, president of Keep Santa Rosa Beautiful. “We are happy to help them achieve their goals.”
Jones Road is considered a platted road, according to the city. That means the road was supposed to be constructed to the property, it just has not been done yet.
Councilman George Jordan said there was a revokeable license agreement for the Jones Road right of way and they could vote to revoke the agreement.
The Torbert family, whose house is in between the Jones house and Jones Street were there to ask the council to say no to revoking the agreement and the Butterfly House’s move.
Jenifer Tolbert and her father, John, said that Jones Street has never been a right of way for the public. The family said they had lived there for 60 years making repairs to the road when needed and that opening the road and the Butterfly House was detrimental to the family.
The council voted to study the information and moved the discussion on the Butterfly House to the next executive council meeting.
The Butterfly House was closed in 2018 when the county decided to do a $6.3 million renovation of Scenic Water Front Park.
The BOCC offered them space at the park but the Butterfly House declined. The BOCC also offered to help them pay and build a Butterfly House at the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge, that is scheduled to open soon.
The Butterfly House representatives at that time declined that offer saying they wanted autonomy. They wanted their own space.
The BOCC asked if they could be self-sustaining and asked them to produce a business plan.
When they presented the business plan to the BOCC in 2018, commissioners rejected the plan.
Weber and her group have now found a new location, the Jones house.
The house is owned by the Blackwater River Foundation. Their are some restrictions to building there.
“Our organization’s mission is restoring and preserving historical culture and environmental resources,” said Mack Thetford, president of the Blackwater River Foundation. “(The Butterfly House’s) plan does fit with and falls in line with our mission.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Butterfly House looking for a home