Erosion closed the nearly 100-year-old Carlin Park landmark and shut beach crossovers 45 through 50. The town has cancelled Civic Center reservations through December and is now assessing the structure and redesigning the deck on deeper piles.
Header photo: The Jupiter Civic Center at Carlin Park, in a Town of Jupiter photo taken before the October erosion.
JUPITER — The Jupiter Civic Center at Carlin Park remains closed, with no reopening date set, after a week of king tides, fierce winds and heavy surf eroded the dune beneath it.
Significant erosion carved away the center's deck, stairs and part of its sidewalk, the Town of Jupiter said in its initial statement, reported by the Palm Beach Post on Oct. 29. The town closed the center until further notice and asked residents and visitors to stay clear of closed areas and use other beach access points, with extreme caution around eroded areas and hazardous surf.
The damage has only grown clearer since. As of the town's Nov. 4 park and field closings update, the beach at the Civic Center was still closed, the town had cancelled all Civic Center reservations for November and December, and no reopening date had been set.
What the town is doing now
At the Nov. 5 Town Council meeting, Director of Engineering George Zama gave council an update on the building, which is nearly 100 years old and a longtime home for weddings, family reunions, graduation parties and other gatherings at Carlin Park, near Indiantown Road and State Road A1A.
Zama said staff had brought in about 1,500 cubic yards of sand to stabilize the building after some deck sections were found floating as the sand beneath them washed away, and those sections had to be removed. Palm Beach County also hired a contractor to place sand in front of the center to bulk up the shoreline and protect the structure.
The next steps are a structural assessment of the building, a redesign of the deck with deeper piles, and expedited permitting. Zama said he hoped to finish the design in six to eight weeks. That points to a closure measured in months, not weeks.
Beach access is still affected
The town has also closed beach crossovers 45 through 50 along A1A south of Carlin Park, and those were still closed in the Nov. 4 update.
The Civic Center was already scheduled, before the erosion, to close from Feb. 15, 2027, to July 31, 2027, for deck and flooring replacement and bathroom improvements, according to the town website. The storm damage has overtaken that plan — the assessment and redesign now underway will decide what happens next, and when the center can reopen.
Anyone with a November or December reservation should treat it as cancelled unless the town contacts them directly, and check the town's park and field closings page for the latest status before heading to Carlin Park.
