After years of delays, Viera middle school groundbreaking scheduled for Feb. 1

Fifteen years ago, a band of parents whose children attended Viera elementary schools launched a petition drive and website, lobbying the Brevard County School Board to build a middle school in Viera.

A series of funding- and enrollment-based postponements followed that unsuccessful 2007 parental campaign. But now, a groundbreaking ceremony will take place Feb. 1 for Viera's long-awaited middle school.

Target school opening date: August 2024.

"Good quality schools are one of the most important elements in a master-planned community, and Viera is blessed to have some of the best in the state," Todd Pokrywa, president of The Viera Co., said in an email.

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"The long-awaited middle school will be constructed on a site previously conveyed to Brevard Public Schools by The Viera Co. immediately north of Viera High School," Pokrywa said.

Brevard Public Schools spokesperson Russell Bruhn declined to provide further details on the middle school project ahead of the Feb. 1 groundbreaking ceremony.

However, the BPS website features a page with basic information about the "New Mid County Middle School 'X' Project."

The construction project is estimated to cost $52 million to $55 million, funded primarily through educational impact fees, a Dec. 13 school board agenda memo said.

The middle school campus will house a main building, a secondary classroom building, a gymnasium building and a retention pond that will interconnect with the Viera High pond, St. Johns River Water Management District permitting records show.

Viera High opened in August 2006 as Brevard's 15th public high school, and the first to open since Bayside High in 1998 in Palm Bay. The 298,000-square-foot Viera complex sprawled across 56 acres of former sod fields and cattle pasture.

The nearby Viera Regional Park athletic complex also opened in August 2006, though the $5 million community center was still under construction.

During that 2007 parent-led push to build a Viera middle school, BPS officials said the project was postponed because the middle schools surrounding Viera — Kennedy (Rockledge), McNair (Rockledge/Cocoa) and DeLaura (Satellite Beach) — were only operating at 75% to 85% of enrollment capacity.

Viera’s population in 2010 was 19,193 residents — but that number has now boomed beyond 30,250 people. The master-planned community has grown from 8,939 homes in 2010 to more than 13,300 homes today, with new subdivisions planned and under construction.

Since Viera High debuted, BPS officials built and opened Heritage High to students during the 2009-10 academic year in Palm Bay.

The Lake Andrew Drive northern extension leading from Judge Fran Jamieson Way past the future middle school site to Viera Boulevard opened to traffic in December 2020.

Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or [email protected]. Twitter: @RickNeale1

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard Public Schools sets Viera middle school groundbreaking ceremony