The proposal from Calvary Church would have brought a K-12 private Christian school to a vacant site on Indiantown Road, with plans for nearly 1,000 students. The issue has divided residents for months. Palm Beach County Mayor Sara Baxter was the only commissioner to vote in favor of the project, citing the need for private Christian education in the area. For more than three hours, residents lined up to speak, with traffic emerging as one of the contentious topics of the night.
One speaker told commissioners the scale of the proposed school is larger than the proposed Home Depot. Commissioners questioned whether there is actually a need for another school in the area, noting that many schools highlighted in the presentation were public schools while the proposed project would be a private school with tuition costs and different enrollment requirements. Commissioner Joel Flores pointed out that only about 25% of those who spoke in favor of the project were from Jupiter, while many supporters came from outside the area, including Port St. Lucie and Boca Raton. The county's Zoning Commission Board had already voted unanimously last month to recommend denial of the proposal. The county denied the application without prejudice, which means the school project could be brought back in a different form, but Calvary officials would have to go through the same administrative process.