The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners has cleared the Episcopal School of Ponte Vedra for takeoff, voting unanimously on Tuesday to approve a special-use permit for a private K–8 campus on church property along Palm Valley Road. The decision, which followed a unanimous nod from the county Planning and Zoning Agency, pushes the project into the permitting and construction-planning phase.
New campus on church land
The school is planned on a portion of the St. Francis in-the-Field Episcopal Church campus, with organizers pitching the project as a response to rising demand for independent K–8 education in northern St. Johns County, according to Episcopal School of Ponte Vedra. Founders and investor materials highlight academics, arts and athletics on a traditional campus setting and invite the community to follow updates and signal enrollment interest.
Plan details and county sign-off
The county’s approval covers a roughly 78,000-square-foot academic building on about 45.88 acres at 895 Palm Valley Road, along with athletic fields, parking, stormwater management and a 20-foot vegetative buffer to separate the site from nearby Walden Chase homes, according to News4JAX. The plan calls for serving about 850 students from kindergarten through eighth grade, limits outdoor athletic lighting to 7 a.m. through 10 p.m., and cites traffic studies that predict peak congestion around drop-off and pick-up times.
Neighbors raise traffic concerns
Nearby residents zeroed in on traffic during the public hearing, pressing county officials about vehicle stacking and safe access at the site. “Peak hour traffic is concentrated into short, high-volume windows during arrival and dismissal,” one Walden Chase neighbor said. In response, the school’s representative pointed to existing forested buffers and said, “You can see the significant buffering from 140 to over 400 feet,” as reported by News4JAX.
What comes next
With entitlements in hand, the project now shifts to permitting, site work and phased construction. The investor page notes that the campus will occupy a 40-acre portion of the church property and outlines a phased rollout that starts with lower grades and expands over time, according to Invest in EPV. Families who want updates or to join an interest list can sign up through Episcopal School of Ponte Vedra.
