The Buellton Planning Commission on Thursday held a preliminary review of plans for the Santa Ynez Valley Children’s Museum, a proposed outdoor learning campus near Riverview Park.

At 202 Dairyland Road, the museum would occupy part of the former Willemsen Dairy property, which the city of Buellton acquired in 2020. Organizers described the concept as an outdoor discovery space focused on STEAM and environmental education for school groups, families and small community events.

“The museum will provide inclusive outdoor learning spaces where children and families can explore at their own pace through play, discovery and curiosity,” said Operations Consultant Jillian Knight.

Plans presented Thursday outlined a series of outdoor exhibit areas focused on topics such as water science, air quality, agriculture, physics and nature-based play, along with classroom and gathering spaces intended for both educational programming and public visits.

“The goal is to help children understand the natural systems that shape our region and how we can be responsible stewards of our environment,” Knight said.

While commissioners praised the project’s educational vision, several site and design issues still need to be resolved before the proposal can move forward, according to city planning staff.

Associate Planner Cara Miralles said restrooms and other portable structures shown on a lower-lying area of the property would likely not be approved because that area lies within the 100-year floodplain. She said it is also adjacent to sensitive riparian habitat and a culvert outfall that drains toward the Santa Ynez River.

In response, Knight told commissioners the project team is not planning any development in that area at this time and that the revised plans would reflect that.

Another challenge for the project team involves repurposing several existing structures on the site, including a large shipping container building, that Michael Holliday, principal architect with DMHA, said were originally constructed without permits.

“One of the things that we inherited when we got on the project was everything was built with no permits, and there was no survey and there was no documentation at all,” he said. “That’s what’s taken some time, is to get our heads around how to do this right.”

Holliday said the team has since completed a full survey and documented the existing buildings as part of its due diligence work to determine what can be brought into compliance and reused.

During public comment, some residents expressed strong support for the children’s museum but urged the city to permanently zone the surrounding land as recreational or open space. Resident Judith Dale cited fears that once the adjacent Hundred Hills School’s temporary lease expires, the city might eventually sell the remaining land.

“That property is priceless, it really is fantastic, and I really hope we cherish it and don’t give it away to either more housing, to commercial property, or something that doesn’t really benefit the citizens of Buellton,” Dale told the commission.

Commissioners did not directly take up that broader zoning question Thursday. Later in the meeting, Commissioner Daniel Contreras asked whether the museum site would be “under the five-year lease limit as well,” referring to the adjacent Hundred Hills School.

In response, Planning Director Andrea Keefer said the license agreement has not yet gone before the City Council and that doing so would be the next step.

“None of those terms or the length of time have been actually predetermined at this point,” she said.

Miralles said staff is seeking more detail on tree protection, exterior lighting, fencing, signage and the design of several proposed accessory structures, including storage sheds and a trash enclosure. If those issues are addressed and the application is resubmitted, the project would then move on to a future public hearing before the Planning Commission.

If approved, the museum would operate Monday through Wednesday by appointment only and would be open to the general public Thursday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the staff report.

For more information on the project, head to syvchildrensmuseum.org.