How Jupiter is growing: Inlet Foundation offers plan to buy, preserve Suni Sands site

JUPITER — The fight to preserve Suni Sands , the 10-acre archaeologically and historically significant site near the Jupiter Inlet that includes an ancient Native American shell midden, is not over.

While Suni Sands owner Charles Modica is in mediation with the town over his right to develop the site, there is a way to preserve and protect the entire property, a coalition led by the Jupiter Inlet Foundation says.

The foundation has begun raising money to purchase the property and turn it over to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management. The BLM owns and operates the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area nearby. The congressional act that created the designation in 2008 allows it to expand and add adjacent land.

Suni Sands: Town says developer failed to see waterfront site's historic importance when he bought it

The 120-acre lighthouse land is the only unit of the National Conservation Lands east of the Mississippi and one of only three Outstanding Natural Areas in the country.

“We want the public to know that there is a plan to save the whole property,” MB Hague, president of the Jupiter Inlet Foundation, said Wednesday. “It would be such a tremendous opportunity and a coup for Jupiter to be able to have a showcase like this.”

The foundation’s members have spoken with potential donors and plan to hold fundraising events starting in the fall. It isn’t known yet how much it would cost to purchase the property, and the proposal cannot go forward unless Modica agrees to sell.

Philippe Jeck, Modica’s attorney, said Thursday that he and Modica had not heard of a plan to fold the property into the Lighthouse area until The Palm Beach Post asked him about it on Wednesday, July 24.

“I would say, if you knew Mr. Modica, he is always willing to talk to people,” Jeck said. “If he was adamant against it, he would say so, and he is not. If somebody wants to make a fair-market-value offer, he would consider it. His preference is to develop it.”

From The Post's archives: The day the last residents left the Suni Sands mobile-home park

Native American groups eager to hear details about Suni Sand preservation plan in Jupiter

Archaeologists say that evidence found at the Suni Sands site shows people in the area going back 5,000 years, and that the black earth-mound midden is generally thought to be 1,500 years old. It contains artifacts from the indigenous people who lived there.

Hague said that in 2019, Jupiter voters approved a $20 million open space bond , and a primary focus was that the money could be used to buy Suni Sands.

“This is the perfect opportunity to use the $16.5 million that is left,” Hague said.

Peter DeWitt, program manager with the Bureau of Land Management at the lighthouse, said the BLM is open to the idea and there is nothing to prevent it from taking over the Suni Sands site if the developer should decide to sell it.

He said BLM was not looking to expand the natural area, but its mission is to protect and preserve historical, biological and other resources and allow for education and recreation.

“We went back to the legislation. It gives us the capacity to manage adjacent lands. We are a willing partner. We do not want to step on any of the local or regional toes,” DeWitt said. “We understand there are concerns going on between the developer and the Town of Jupiter, and that has to be resolved.”

DeWitt said the proposal does not include BLM contributing any funds to purchase Suni Sands. The agency does not have millions available, but there might be small pots of grant money. BLM would maintain and manage the 10 acres as it does the 120-acre lighthouse site.

Robert Rosa, chair of the American Indian Movement and the Florida representative of the United Federation of Taino People, said he and Betty Osceola, a member of the Panther Clan of the Miccosukee Tribe, expect to hold a Zoom meeting with BLM officials in August about the future of the sacred ceremonial site.

“We want to find out how BLM’s ownership would affect Suni Sands and affect the rights of indigenous people to  access the land. The land was a spot, not only for the indigenous in Florida, but also the Caribbean. The Jaega were from the Caribbean," Rosa said.

“We have not said yes or no. We want to see what it will entail. We want the land left as it is and with nothing disturbed. We want it to be respected, taken care of and preserved,” Rosa said.

Developer has talked of condos, hotel, stores and restaurants at Suni Sands site in Jupiter

Modica, a longtime Hobe Sound resident, built the Charley and Joe’s Love Street restaurant complex just west of Suni Sands. He purchased the former mobile-home park for $17 million in 2013 and has indicated he wants to build a mixed-use development there, with condominiums, a restaurant and hotel.

Plans for the site have not been submitted or approved. Zoning and land use changes would be necessary.

In a 3-2 vote on July 25, 2023, the Town Council approved a certificate to dig on 6 acres of the property, which sits along the Loxahatchee River just west of the inlet. But it set aside for preservation and protection the 4.07-acre Suni Sands Shell Midden, a 10-foot buffer around it, and the 950-foot-long, 9.56-foot-wide pathway where the Celestial Railway cut across the property.

At that meeting angry residents who wanted the entire 10 acres to be preserved chanted and shouted, “Shame, shame, shame" and “This is not what the locals want,” making it clear they opposed the council’s decision.

The council’s vote overturned a Historic Resources Board decision which denied the property owners a certificate to dig at the site, which is required before any development can begin. The HRB found that any development at Suni Sands would be detrimental.

In August 2023, Modica’s attorneys appealed the council’s decision and stated that by prohibiting development on 4 of the 10 acres, development would not make economic sense.

Since November 2023, the town and the developer have held a series of mediation sessions overseen by Special Magistrate Samuel Goren, but no outcome has been announced.

Jupiter's oceanfront: Zoning change could lead to new Jupiter Island condo where old one stands now

Jupiter mayor: It may take 'a heck of a lot of money' to buy Suni Sands

“Since the vote in July of last year, we have been reaching out to various people," said Jupiter Inlet Foundation Vice President Cheryl Schneider. "Mr. Modica has to make a decision about what deal he wants to take. He is one of the biggest supporters and donors" of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area.

The foundation is working with a land conservation group that is assisting with a basis for an offer to be made to Modica, said Schneider, who was Jupiter's vice mayor when she resigned from office in August 2023.

“It’s complicated to come up with a value because that depends on the zoning and whether it is conservation land or not,” Schneider said. “The groundwork has been laid. We want the public to know there is another way forward.”

Foundation board member Vivien McLean-Bunce said that in addition to the desire to preserve the site, the outcry against development and congestion is a driving force behind the initiative.

“One other aspect is that people do not want further development. The density Modica is proposing is destructive,” McLean-Bunce said.

Jupiter Mayor Jim Kuretski, said Modica would have to agree to sell the property before it could be transferred to the BLM, and said he does not envision that happening unless the foundation comes up with “a heck of a lot of money.”

“I have always been in favor of acquiring a portion of the property," Kuretski said.

If such a transfer to the BLM were to occur, then a process will begin to determine what will be on the property, such as walking paths and signs explaining the property’s history and significance.

Teri Grooms, who resigned as Jupiter’s Planning and Zoning chair in 2023 after serving since 2018, is part of the group working to have all 10 acres of Suni Sands incorporated into the Lighthouse natural area.

“Our dream is to open it to the public. There are two buildings there now, the clubhouse and a management office. We don’t want to build anything new. If they are not able to be rehabbed, the discussion has been that we would not put up any permanent structure, so we are not disturbing the ground anymore,” Grooms said.

The group hopes that when the public learns there is an alternative to development, people will support the plan and donate. They envision the property becoming a place where the history that happened there is celebrated.

“The sentimentality for protecting Suni Sands is very high,” Grooms said.

Susan Salisbury is a freelance journalist at The Palm Beach Post , part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today .

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: How Jupiter is growing: Inlet Foundation offers plan to buy, preserve Suni Sands site