What, if any, legal options does Palm Beach have to deal withthe indefinite closure of a busy roadnear former President Donald Trump's prominent property — and could one option include closing his Mar-a-Lago Club?
The Palm Beach Council on Tuesday, Aug. 13, directed town staff to research what might be able to be done about the July 20 shutdown of South Ocean Boulevard between the Southern Boulevard traffic circle and South County Road to protect Mar-a-Lago and Trump in the wake of the July 13 attempted assassination of the Republican nominee for president.
"In my mind, if the road is closed, the Mar-a-Lago Club is closed," Mayor Danielle Moore said, after Council Member Julie Araskog raised the question of what will be done about traffic and security when the club reopens at the beginning of Palm Beach's social season this fall. "There's no way in God's green earth that they can bring 350 people into that club. It's completely illogical that you've got a road closed and then you're going to let 350 strangers into your club."
Those two things, permitting hundreds of people for events on the property that isTrump's primary residencewhile also increasing security, as prompted by the U.S. Secret Service, are opposite, Moore said.
No one wants anything to happen to Trump, Moore said, a comment that was echoed in comments by fellow council members, town staff and residents. They also said that politics play no role in their calls for relief from the issues caused by the prolonged closure.
"However, you can't have it both ways, boys and girls," Moore said. "Either the club's open or not."
The council's direction to pursue legal options came during a discussion where Town Manager Kirk Blouin said it's possible Palm Beach will not receive a reply from the Secret Service to the town's July 22 letter, where Town Attorney Joanne O'Connor asked the agency to "provide the legal authority authorizing it to implement the road closure for the specified duration and even when protectee(s) are not in residence in the Town."
Previously: Confusion as Secret Service closes key road near Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach
The Dirt: How former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago traffic snarl is affecting his wealthy neighbors
When Trump was president, the Secret Service closed South Ocean Boulevard near Mar-a-Lago only when Trump was in Palm Beach. The current closure affects the road 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through at least the Nov. 5 general election, whether or not Trump is there, officials have said.
The closure "effectively cuts the Town in two," O'Connor wrote in the letter.
"We can't physically go and remove the barriers," Blouin said. "They ordered the shut down. ... We need to know what our options are. That's going to take some legal research."
Town officials have already noticed congestion worsening since the closure, Palm Beach Police Chief Nicholas Caristo told the council.
He met with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, which maintains the checkpoints near Mar-a-Lago, along with the Secret Service and Mar-a-Lago security to see what immediate steps can be taken to help the flow of traffic around the checkpoints.
Among the changes agreed to by PBSO and the Secret Service are steps to more efficiently direct traffic around large trucks that must be stopped and checked before they can pass the club, and improved signage near the northern checkpoint at South County Road so visitors, workers and delivery drivers know they can get through that checkpoint with proper identification, Caristo said.
A Palm Beach Police officer is stationed around-the-clock at Mar-a-Lago to make sure emergency vehicles can pass through both checkpoints, he said.
Even with that point person to facilitate the passage of emergency vehicles, response times will be affected, Palm Beach Fire Rescue Chief Sean Baker told the council.
"There's a serpentine, there's a gauntlet that we have to run," he said of the town's emergency vehicles navigating the barricades, which are designed to protect the property but still are wide enough to allow even the largest firetruck in town to pass slowly, he added.
The town does have contingencies for emergencies — including the use of Palm Beach County's Trauma Hawk medical transport helicopter — and Fire Rescue personnel are keeping a constant eye on how long it takes to respond to calls, Baker said.
Both Caristo and Baker acknowledged that as more people return to Palm Beach, congestion caused by the closure will get worse.
"Our residents don't feel safe right now," Araskog said, noting that she has received calls from residents who have had difficulty getting caretakers and other staff through the checkpoints. She also said residents have expressed concerns about firetrucks passing through the checkpoints, and about their own safety given international threats to Trump that have been reported in recent weeks.
There is case law that supports shutting down a road in an area where someone is protected by the Secret Service, Blouin said. Still, the town is "sifting through all that previous case law to see what our options are," he said.
One step that could potentially help with traffic would be a reduction of bridge openings to once per hour, as happened during Trump's visits as president, Caristo said. However, the Coast Guard told Caristo that the agency cannot do that unless the Secret Service reactivates the maritime security zone that was in place around Mar-a-Lago during Trump's presidency.
Residents and business owners have inundated council members with concerns and frustrations since the closure was announced. Moore said she heard from one frustrated person who had to make a delivery within the checkpoint area just north of Mar-a-Lago, and then travel to another location on the South End — a drive that normally would take about 10 minutes but now may take almost an hour.
"I'm terrified as to what life looks like in town with this road closure," Council Member Ted Cooney said, encouraging town staff to find creative solutions to the congestion that will increase as season begins.
Blouin said some of those creative solutions are beginning to take shape, including the possibility of remote or extended hours for town employees, and working with Palm Beach County on how to best coordinate traffic signals on either side of the three bridges that connect the town to West Palm Beach to make sure traffic flows as smoothly as possible.
Palm Beach's busy social season traditionally begins around Thanksgiving, but residents have returned earlier and earlier each year, with many more remaining year-round since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some residents are concerned about how they will be able to continue their everyday lives if traffic, which is already a major issue in town, is made worse by South Ocean Boulevard's closure and moving around the island becomes impossible, Cooney said.
"You know what's coming," Blouin said. "We're at the slowest point that we're going to be and we're already seeing the impacts."
How could Palm Beach close the Mar-a-Lago Club?
When the Town Council in 1993 authorized Trump to operate Mar-a-Lago as a private social club, the then-developer agreed to a declaration-of-use agreement. The club was then allowed to open as a special exception use in a Palm Beach residential zoning district.
It was that agreement that some neighbors cited in 2021 as part of an effort to prevent Trump from using Mar-a-Lago as his primary legal residence. However, the town attorney at the time, Skip Randolph, concluded thatthe agreement doesn't specifically bar Trump from living at the club. Trump now lives at Mar-a-Lago under a piece of the town's zoning code that says private clubs can provide living quarters to a "bona fide employee."
The club's operation also is governed by the declaration-of-use agreement. If the town finds that there have been any violations of the agreement, Palm Beach can revoke Mar-a-Lago's occupational license. Officials have also questioned in past discussions if health and safety issues raised by neighbors could be reason to remove the special exception that allows Mar-a-Lago to operate as a private club.
When Trump was president, the Secret Service had to obtain an exception from the town to the declaration-of-use agreement to allow for the construction of a helicopter pad on Mar-a-Lago's west lawn, because that use is not allowed. When Trump left office, the pad was demolished.
There have been a few changes to the agreement over the past three decades, including in May, when a new traffic plan was approved for the club.
Which Palm Beach road is affected?
South Ocean Boulevard is closed to vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians from the traffic circle at Southern Boulevard north to the intersection with South County Road. Residents in and visitors to the affected area must show identification, and they can only enter and exit through the northern checkpoint at South County Road. Only emergency vehicles are allowed to pass through the Southern Boulevard checkpoint.
Both ends of the closure are manned by multiple law enforcement officers.
The road will be closed through at least the Nov. 5 general election, officials have said.
Should there be a hurricane-related evacuation, Caristo said the barricades will be opened up and PBSO will remain around Mar-a-Lago to check for anything suspicious.
Why did the Secret Service order the road to be closed in Palm Beach?
The closure went into effect July 20, one week after a 20-year-old gunman shot into the crowd at Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, injuring Trump and two of his supporters, and killing another person. The Secret Service shot and killed the gunman.
The closure was one of a number of steps taken by the Secret Service to increase security around Trump and his properties, including Trump Tower in Manhattan and Trump's club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Longterm increases in security were already in the works before the recent measures were put in place, with the Secret Service working with the town and Mar-a-Lago to request a new guardhouse, which is under construction now just inside Mar-a-Lago's main gate on South Ocean Boulevard.
What has happened since the closure near Ma-a-Lago took effect?
Since the stretch of South Ocean closed near Mar-a-Lago, there has been increased congestion on the Royal Park Bridge, the middle of the three bridges that connect Palm Beach to West Palm Beach across the Intracoastal Waterway, officials have said.
Palm Beach officials have pushed back on the closure's indefinite nature, questioning the need for the road to shut down when Trump is not there.
On July 31, a Chinese citizenwas arrestedafter he repeatedly tried to get into Mar-a-Lago while claiming that he had documents tying China to the July 13 attempted assassination.
Also since the road closed, Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahufor a July 26 meeting at Mar-a-Lago, their first sit-down since Trump left office in 2021.
