Officials with the U.S. Secret Service are willing to consider the concerns of people affected by new flight restrictions in the airspace over President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel said.
That was among the updates shared by Frankel in a Jan. 6 memo to the community after she received a briefing from five Secret Service officials to discuss the flight restrictions over Mar-a-Lago and the resulting new flight paths that affect the thousands of people who live and work under them.
“Keeping the President and our country safe is essential, and our community wants security measures that are fair, reasonable, and minimize harm to the tens of thousands of people affected,” Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, said in the news release.
The new flight restrictions in the airspace over Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club extend in each direction for 1 nautical mile and are in place whether or not Trump is home. The restrictions effectively created an around-the-clock no-fly zone that pilots heading either into or out of Palm Beach must avoid, officials have said.
The temporary flight restrictions took effect Oct. 20 and are in place through at least Oct. 20, 2026, according to a Federal Aviation Administration notice.
For decades, planes traveled both to and from Palm Beach International Airport directly east over Trump’s home, which is about 2.5 miles east of the airport. Now, pilots are forced to make sharp turns into and out of PBIA over a densely populated 5-square-mile area northeast of the airport.
Some of the briefing Frankel received was classified, but much of it was not, she said in the memo.
She shared information previously released by officials with Palm Beach County’s Department of Airports: While the past flight paths affected about 2,200 homes and 5,000 people, the new routes affect more than 11,000 homes and 21,000 residents.
Planes take off and land as often as every 90 seconds, Frankel said.
The airports department has received hundreds of complaints about the new restrictions, with concerns about noise, air pollution, property values and the possibility of flight delays, she said.
The restrictions have received significant pushback from those affected by what they have said is near-constant noise and pollution from planes. A group of town residents formed the Palm Beach Quiet Skies Coalition, which as of Jan. 8 had 1,101 signatures on its Change.org petition calling for changes to the restrictions.
Palm Beach, West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County have all filed legal challenges to the flight paths, asking for the FAA to review the process and orders used to create the temporary flight restrictions. A judge with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., in December ordered the petitions — one filed jointly by Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, and another filed separately by the county — to be combined, according to court records.
Frankel said that she told Secret Service officials that the community understands that protecting the president is a priority and security is essential. “But in the community does not understand why the new restrictions must be in place when the President is not in Palm Beach County,” Frankel wrote in the memo.
Frankel confirmed that the Secret Service requested the restrictions not just over Mar-a-Lago but also over Trump Tower in New York City.
Those homes are Trump’s “formal ‘non-governmental residences’ which require them to be fully secured by the Secret Service at all times,” Frankel wrote. The president’s other properties, including his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, were not included in the request for temporary flight restrictions because those are not designated as Trump’s nongovernmental residences, Frankel said.
While the Secret Service makes requests for security-related flight restrictions, the FAA ultimately makes the call on whether to issue them, she said, adding that she requested a meeting with the FAA to address the Mar-a-Lago situation.
The Secret Service expressed interest in engaging more with local officials, county and airport leaders, community groups, residents and other people affected by the flight restrictions, Frankel wrote.
“This is an important step toward transparency and ensuring community concerns are part of the federal decision-making process,” she said.
Frankel plans to have several meetings, including one with the FAA and PBIA staff to talk about possibly alternating or scaling back the flight restrictions. She said she also hopes to have another briefing from the Secret Service to receive more details on the reasons behind the agency’s request for flight restrictions.
A meeting that includes Secret Service and FAA representatives, along with members of the community and local officials is also a goal, Frankel wrote.
People can file a complaint about airport noise with the county’s Department of Airports by calling 561-244-9510, or by emailing Craig Delegato, the airport’s manager of noise abatement and community affairs, at cdelegato@pbia.org.
The FAA also has an aviation noise complaint portal online at FAA.gov/ancir and by phone at 202-267-3521.
Frankel said people may also go to her website, frankel.house.gov, for more information or to contact her office.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Frankel: Secret Service open to talks on Mar-a-Lago flight path
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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