JUPITER, Fla. — Jupiter Christian School wants to build a new campus to meet surging demand, driven in part by Florida's school voucher program. However, neighbors and town officials have concerns about traffic.
While some area public schools are seeing declines in enrollment, Florida's school voucher program has sparked growth in some private schools — and Jupiter Christian School wants to build a new campus to keep up with demand.
WATCH BELOW: Jupiter Christian School proposes new $68 million campus
The school is proposing a $68 million campus on a 38-acre site just east of Interstae 95 and south of Indiantown Road in Jupiter. Jupiter Christian currently enrolls 1,100 students and has a waiting list of 700.
Jay Boggess, president of Jupiter Christian School, said the project reflects real community need.
"There is pent-up demand for what this represents," Boggess said.
The school is negotiating with the town of Jupiter, offering land for a long-debated road extension — the southern extension of Island Way — and an 18-acre site solely for workforce housing.
But the proposal is not without opposition.
Residents of the nearby Kennedy Estates community, who have spent more than a decade fighting the Island Way extension over concerns about traffic and noise, are watching the project closely.
Leroy Holland, who has lived his entire life in Kennedy Estates, acknowledged the neighborhood's appeal.
"The neighborhood is a really good neighborhood," Holland said.
But Holland and others say their streets have already become gridlocked at times.
"At 4 at 5 p.m. every day, it's pretty packed from here all throughout the neighborhood," Tommy Kaplan of Jupiter said.
Jupiter town staff has also expressed concerns that the project would generate too much traffic eastbound on Indiantown Road during the morning rush hour. The town's initial traffic analysis was based on a campus of 2,000 students.
Boggess told me the new campus would open with 1,200 students — not the 2,000 figure used in that analysis. He pushed back on the idea that the school would be an unwelcome addition to the area.
"We're not outsiders coming in trying to build a new condo or big box anything," Boggess said. "You know us, we are your families."
Town council will get its first look at the plans in April. School leaders say they hope to break ground this summer and welcome students for the 2028-29 school year.
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