JUPITER — The town has delayed a vote on a $68 million new campus for the Jupiter Christian School after council members raised concerns about Jupiter’s potential share of the cost of building a new road at the proposed site along the southeast corner of Indiantown Road and Interstate 95.
With an overflow crowd in attendance for the April 21 council meeting, many wearing Jupiter Christian’s red and black colors, council member Malise Sundstrom moved to postpone a public hearing and first readings for four ordinances that would change the use of nearly 60 vacant acres to public institution and residential from bioscience industry.
The property for the new school campus is being purchased in partnership with Eastwind Development, which will build apartments featuring workforce housing on another portion of the site.
Sundstrom said she needed time to review a draft of the developer’s agreement that was provided a day before the meeting. She also said she had concerns about Jupiter’s share for the cost of construction for an $11 million roadway. A date for a new vote had not been scheduled as of April 28.
Town documents show the project would extend South Island Way about one-half mile south from Indiantown Road south to Jupiter Park Drive.
“My concern with it is that it’s a unique application in that it is dependent on delivering infrastructure,” Sundstrom said.
“The project cannot exist without the infrastructure and we have no understanding related to the developer’s contribution, the town’s. We do not have a sufficient budget or understanding related to proportionate fair share.”
The motion passed 4-1 with Mayor Jim Kurestski casting the lone dissenting vote. During public comments, Jupiter Christian School board Chairman Donald Barnes expressed his disappointment over the council’s decision, noting that the school submitted the draft of the developer’s agreement at the town’s request.
“We fully understand that we have to work out the details,” he said “But I’m very, very disappointed in the council this evening.”
The vacant parcel proposed for the new campus is now in Jupiter’s Bioscience Research Protection Overlay zone, which the town created as part of Palm Beach County’s effort to bring biotech companies to its northern communities in the early 2000s. A board that governed that effort was disbanded in 2024.
If the land use changes and a site plan are approved, about 38 of the nearly 60 acres would be devoted to a new, consolidated campus for the nondenominational Christian school.
The campus would feature 150,000 square feet of educational space for middle and high school students. It would allow Jupiter Christian to consolidate two of three existing locations, now spread across Jupiter, into one site.
The proposed campus is one of two potential construction projects being considered near Indiantown and I-95.
In a prior meeting, the Town Council gave preliminary approval for land use changes that would allow for the construction of single-family homes on the northeast corner of Indiantown and I-95. The project is pending final council approval.
Julius Whigham II covers northern Palm Beach County and public safety for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jupiter Christian School campus vote delayed as road cost questioned
Reporting by Julius Whigham II, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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