Officials in the Town of Palm Beach are organizing an effort to change the new no-fly zone established over President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach — which is in place even when he is not home — as Palm Beach County prepares for a meeting to discuss the restrictions’ potential effects.
The Citizens’ Committee on Airport Noise will meet at 6 p.m. on Nov. 6 at Palm Beach International Airport.
The hastily called meeting aims to address concerns about the new temporary flight restrictions established by the Federal Aviation Administration for Mar-a-Lago, a committee member said. The restrictions were requested by the U.S. Secret Service “to ensure the highest levels of safety and security for the President,” a spokesperson for that agency has said.
The new restrictions went into effect Oct. 20 and will remain in place 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until at least Oct. 20, 2026. It means no aircraft can operate within 1 mile of Mar-a-Lago regardless of whether Trump is home, sending planes to the northeast away from the estate — and over neighborhoods that have rarely experienced sustained jet noise and the potential soot expelled from engines.
Heightened restrictions that are already in place when Trump is in town will still kick in when the president arrives. Those include a radius of 10 nautical miles where most flights are banned. More movement is allowed within a subsequent ring of 30 nautical miles.
“We recognize that these changes could have an impact on the public and appreciate the Palm Beach community’s understanding as we work to keep the President safe,” the spokesperson said.
Palm Beach plans to send a request to the appropriate authorities to ask for changes to the restrictions and hopefully bring relief to residents under the new flight path, Town Council President Pro-Tem Lew Crampton said. The town has no authority over the rules but is trying to establish communication with the agencies that do have oversight, and officials are working on drafting a letter, Town Manager Kirk Blouin said.
“Obviously there’s information that maybe they cannot share, and that’s understandable,” Blouin said. “But any information they can share, we’d like to have it so we can address concerns.” Town officials also want to see what flexibility, if any, is available under the new temporary flight restrictions that were issued, he said.
Residents under the new primary flight path to the northeast of PBIA are questioning the need for the restrictions to be in effect every day, even when Trump is not home.
“I think people are just looking to understand, and so far there’s just been stonewalling,” said longtime Palm Beach resident and attorney Martin Klein, who was appointed to the committee by County Commissioner Bobby Powell Jr.
Venerated and century-old neighborhoods such as El Cid, Flamingo Park, Grandview Heights and Sunshine Park have all attracted monied new residents since the pandemic, drawn to the glamour of the 1920s land-boom-era homes, shaded streets and easy commute to burgeoning downtown West Palm Beach.
For new owners and longtime residents, the all-day, everyday flyovers have them worried about their property values, lifestyles and the integrity of their storied stick and stucco homes.
“The noise and disruption is the first reaction. People panic, and some of these people paid a lot of money for their homes,” Nancy Pullum, who lives in the El Cid neighborhood and is chairperson of the airport’s noise committee, told The Palm Beach Post. “Now, they can’t hear on the phone when they’re outside. We live outside. This is not like Boston where you’re closed up for the winter.”
“It’s not just the noise, but when you get a lot of jet traffic, we get black oily soot. So that’s another factor,” said Linda Cullen, a past president of the Flamingo Park Neighborhood Association and a broker associate with Corcoran realty. “I have never seen such an outcry. People are just outraged.”
Klein called on federal authorities to attend the Nov. 6 meeting. “If they can promulgate regulations, they can modify them,” he said.
Under the new restrictions, planes when taking off to the east can only turn north, not south. This prevents PBIA from implementing its previous system of “fanning,” where during busy times the airport would send planes to the northeast and southeast to provide the federally regulated amount of separation between flights.
“That’s going to take planes across the Estate Section of town and I think it will mean more noise complaints,” said Crampton, who also serves on the airport’s noise committee.
Airport officials are grappling now with concerns about noise and additional delays, he said.
Security around Mar-a-Lago has grown increasingly tighter since the July 13, 2024, attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Soon after that incident, the Secret Service ordered South Ocean Boulevard next to Mar-a-Lago to close indefinitely, even when Trump was not home. In August of 2024, with urging from Palm Beach officials, the Secret Service, Mar-a-Lago and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office agreed to a deal to reopen the road when Trump is not in Palm Beach.
Town officials hope to follow the same process they used at that time to advocate for changes now, Crampton said, noting that the town has “a very good local working relationship” with the Secret Service.
“It is like blowing against the wind when you hear out of the blue of a new restriction by the federal government,” he said. “It is going to be a challenge, but we did have success earlier. We are hopeful that we can success.”
The FAA has not responded to requests seeking comment. An automatic email reply cites the ongoing government shutdown.
At least one county commissioner, Gregg Weiss, will be at the meeting, and his office is inviting representatives from West Palm Beach’s historic neighborhoods, his chief of staff confirmed.
Committee members were caught off-guard earlier this week by the FAA’s notice that it was issuing the new temporary flight restrictions, which took effect at 8 a.m. Oct. 20 and will remain in effect until 8 a.m. Oct. 20, 2026.
The FAA implemented a similar set of restrictions for the airspace over Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City, with the same duration and a similar radius, though the temporary flight restrictions for that location only extend up 1,000 feet. The restrictions for Palm Beach rise to 2,000 feet.
The flight restrictions took effect just days after Secret Service agents preparing for Trump’s Oct. 17-19 visit found an apparent hunting stand in the trees on the south side of Southern Boulevard across from where Air Force One deplanes. The FBI is investigating the stand and agents dismantled the structure, The Palm Beach Post reported. Southern Boulevard was closed for about 24 hours beginning Oct. 18 as the FBI conducted its investigation.
Klein hopes Palm Beach may once again be able to hold sway with the federal government and encourage a change in the restrictions, particularly during Palm Beach’s off-season when Trump tends to visit his homes in New Jersey or New York. Klein noted that he knows and likes Trump, and understands the need to protect him.
“But somebody needs to explain to me the rationale for doing this on a full-time basis,” he said.
Trump has a lengthy history with Palm Beach International Airport and Palm Beach County.
In 1995, he sued the county to try to send planes away from Mar-a-Lago, which is a National Historic Landmark. The 17.5-acre property with its palatial estate officially opened in 1927, long before Palm Beach International hosted millions of passengers each year. According to the airport’s most recent traffic report, 8,562,343 passengers passed through Palm Beach International in the 12 months that ended in July 2025.
In 1996, Trump and the county struck a deal to end the lawsuit, with the county leasing Trump the more than 200 acres off Summit Boulevard in suburban West Palm Beach where he later built Trump International Golf Club.
Trump sued the county again in 2010 to try to block an airport expansion plan, and dropped that lawsuit when Palm Beach International agreed not to dismantle airport-noise monitors or disband the advisory committee overseeing them.
In 2015, Trump sued the county yet again and claimed that the jets were damaging Mar-a-Lago’s facade and foundation. He dropped that lawsuit after he was elected for his first term as president in 2016.
Since the new temporary flight restrictions took effect, there have been six noise complaints from people in West Palm Beach, in the area northeast of PBIA, an airport spokesperson said.
The airport is currently updating its countywide system of noise monitors. There is one monitor in Palm Beach, on Island Drive just west of South County Road.
A contractor, Passur Aerospace Inc., has been chosen for the new noise-monitoring system, and the Citizens’ Committee on Airport Noise has discussed locations for new monitors, records show.
At the Nov. 6 meeting, Crampton said he will call on the committee to take a hard look at where the new monitors are placed.
“I will be very vocal in making sure that the consultant study is revised to take heed of the new flight path,” he said.
Palm Beach Post growth and development and weather reporter Kimberly Miller contributed to this report.
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 Post: Palm Beach seeks to change new no-fly zones for Mar-a-Lago, which would be relief for West Palm
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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