Which vehicles use the Frederick Small Road gate at The Bear's Club? The Property Owners' Association answered that question in its own application to the Town of Jupiter this year. That answer explains nearly everything about the redesign the town has now approved.
The application names three groups of users. The entrance gives direct access to the golf course maintenance facility. It is a secondary way in for residents. It also carries the commercial vehicles that serve homeowners and the POA. Most of the approved changes are designed around the third group.
A Two-Lane Gate Built for a Smaller Club
The entrance was first built as a two-lane road between Frederick Small Road and Bear's Club Drive, with unmanned electronic security gates. The community around it is a 400.9-acre planned unit development. It lies north of Donald Ross Road, south of Frederick Small Road and west of Palmwood Road.
The application narrative was prepared by Lucido & Associates. It explains plainly why the original design no longer fits:
Over the past 20 years, the traffic on Frederick Small Road, external to the project, and the traffic from Bear's Club Drive, internal to the project, has increased substantially. As the number of homes in the Bear's Club has increased, so has the need for landscape and other home services.
The narrative adds that the POA itself maintains common-area landscaping across the community, including the perimeter buffers along Frederick Small Road and Donald Ross Road. It describes the combined activity at the entrance, together with heavier traffic on Frederick Small, as "a potential hazardous condition." The stated goal of the amendment is to "control traffic flow, enhance public safety and address the current operational needs" of residents and the POA.
Put simply, landscape crews, home-service vendors and the POA's own maintenance work all grew with the community. The gate those vehicles use stayed the size it was when there were fewer homes behind it.
A Turn Lane Sized in Landscape Trailers
The plan's measurements show which vehicles it was designed for. Here is the change as the town records describe it:
| Feature | As originally built | As approved |
|---|---|---|
| Lanes on the entrance segment | Two | Four, with heavily landscaped medians |
| Gate control | Unmanned electronic security gates | A 271-square-foot staffed guardhouse |
| Service vehicles | Same lanes as everyone else | A separate lane for service vehicles |
| Frederick Small Road frontage | Existing turn movements | A right-turn lane that exceeds the county minimum by about 50 feet, plus safe pedestrian crossings |
The turn lane came up at the June 9, 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission hearing. Commissioner Grabowski asked how its length was chosen. Brian Kelly, the traffic engineer with Simmons & White, said the lane meets Palm Beach County standards and is designed for expected traffic volumes. He put the extra length at about 50 feet, "equivalent to the length of about two landscape trailers." Commissioner Sterling asked how the plan would help service vehicles. Morris Crady of Lucido & Associates said a separate lane would be provided for them to ease congestion.
For drivers on Frederick Small Road, the extra length matters. A truck pulling a trailer and waiting to turn in has more room to pull out of the through lane. Commissioner Grabowski also asked whether drivers could skip the line by turning right from the eastbound lane. Mr. Crady said the move is theoretically possible but no different from conditions on other roads.
Why a Maintenance Building Is Part of the Gate Plan
The same approval includes a new building next to the entrance. The POA will build a maintenance facility of about 2,793 square feet. It comes with 627 square feet of covered storage, delivery and loading areas, dumpsters and storage bins, and seven employee parking spaces. It will stand on a roughly 0.64-acre POA-owned parcel, newly created as Phase 1C. The site is south of Frederick Small Road and east of the secondary entrance. The existing golf course maintenance area sits across the entrance drive.
The narrative states the building's purpose briefly. It will "centralize these activities and capture some of the on-going maintenance traffic associated with maintaining the common areas." Town staff treated it as accessory to the existing use and concluded it would not generate additional traffic.
Together, the two pieces form one plan. The maintenance work for the community's common areas moves to a base at the same gate the service vehicles use. Both the POA operation and the golf course operation will sit at this entrance, on either side of the drive.
The building is modest by its zoning limits. It is proposed at 17 feet tall where 35 feet is allowed, with 12.2 percent lot coverage against a 35 percent maximum. The approval includes waivers for the front and side corner setbacks along Bear's Club Drive. At the hearing, Acting Chair Kelso asked whether the generator was covered by those waivers. Planner Jenna Johnston said the generator received a reduction to the setback requirement. The plan also requires a replat. It will dedicate additional private right-of-way to the Northern Palm Beach County Improvement District to make room for the wider entrance.
What the Hearings Settled and What Is Still Open
The project went through three hearings. The Planning and Zoning Commission heard it on June 9, 2026. Town Council held the first reading on July 21 and the second reading on August 18. In June, the commission recommended approval of the PUD amendment and the site plan, each by a 7–0 vote. No one spoke during public comment. The town's October 2026–January 2027 Town Times reports that Council approved the new maintenance facility, the redesigned Frederick Small Road entrance and the staffed guardhouse.
Several commissioners' questions concerned what neighbors will see from the road. Mr. Crady confirmed that:
- The existing sidewalk will not be affected, because the main work is reconstruction within the right-of-way. The improvements will extend along both the east and west sides.
- The existing oak trees will be preserved through coordination between Bear's Club and the Founding Partners condominium project.
- All of the proposed improvements will sit behind the 8-foot wall.
- The security cameras planned within the public right-of-way are private surveillance cameras. They meet Palm Beach County and police requirements and need a county permit.
Acting Chair Kelso asked whether the proposed Pink Wiggler plants, usually recommended for zones 4 through 8, would survive in Jupiter's Zone 10. Mr. Crady said they would, and noted that the existing vegetation on the site is entirely native.
The public record does not answer these questions as of early October 2026:
- When construction begins and ends. The reviewed records give no schedule.
- What the project costs, and how the POA pays for it. Neither figure appears in the town materials.
- Where the wall goes. Asked whether the wall would sit on the roadside or the interior side of the electric lines, Mr. Crady said the final location was still under review and would be decided in a later phase.
- The guardhouse's hours and how access will work. The minutes describe a staffed guardhouse and a service lane. They do not give staffing hours or say how residents, vendors and staff will each be processed at the gate.
- The approval conditions themselves. The applicant agreed to all of the staff-recommended conditions, but the minutes refer to them only as Exhibits 1 and 2.
Homeowners with a project of their own coming up have practical reasons to want answers to the first and fourth questions. A renovation or landscape contract signed now may run into the construction period. The questions belong with the Bear's Club Property Owners' Association, which is the applicant and owner of record.
October 12 on Frederick Small Road
Two events on Monday, October 12, show how the stretch outside the gate is used.
At the club, Stop Children's Cancer holds its 2026 Golf Tournament at The Bear's Club. A post-round luncheon follows. Entry is $2,500 per player, $1,250 for players under 40, or $10,000 for a foursome, and the event supports pediatric cancer research.
That afternoon at 4 p.m., the town holds a ribbon cutting at Abacoa Community Park, 1501 Frederick Small Road. The park's playground is one of three Jupiter rebuilt this summer, along with Heights of Jupiter Park and the Jupiter Community Center. The Palm Beach Post described the work as new shade, play equipment for children of different abilities, and artificial turf. Council separately approved $375,229 in site work across the three parks. That covers new fencing, landscaping, irrigation and a chilled water fountain at each one.
The park, the club and the new entrance all front the same road. The Bear's Club POA describes Frederick Small Road as carrying substantially more traffic than it did 20 years ago. That pressure is the reason the community's back gate is going from two unmanned lanes to four lanes with a staffed guardhouse.
Questions about a property at The Bear's Club, such as timing a renovation around the entrance work or knowing how a pending community project might come up in a sale, are part of the work we do at Wilson & Wilson Private Client. If you would like to talk one of those through confidentially, Speak with an Advisor.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
