Palm Beach considers closing Mar-a-Lago in response to road closure

With the high season just around the corner, Palm Beach is considering closing Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club to members, guests and events.

The town is racing to respond to the closure of South Ocean Boulevard between the intersection of South County Road and Mar-a-Lago, which has stymied one of the island’s key arteries. Now, the town is considering all measures to reopen the road before Palm Beach’s seasonal residents and traffic return to the island –– and that includes shuttering the club.

“In my mind, if the road is closed, the Mar-a-Lago Club is closed,” Mayor Danielle Moore said at the Town Council meeting on Tuesday. “There is 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.”

Moore argued that opening the club to members, guests and events runs counter to the Secret Service’s security goal for closing the road.

“Those two things are opposite of what they’re attempting to do,” she said. “You can’t have it both ways, boys and girls.”

The U.S. Secret Service instituted an indefinite closure for the stretch of road following the July 13 assassination attempt of the former president. The earliest it would reopen the road is after the November election, according to published reports. The road closure is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and has caused hours-long traffic even during the island’s slow summer season, officials said. 

Luxury real estate listings priced as high as $45 million are behind the barricades. Interested buyers now have to be cleared by Secret Service to tour homes for sale in the affected area. 

The road closure has precedent, but its duration does not. During Trump’s presidency, the road would close when he was in residence at Mar-a-Lago, and reopen when he left. The Secret Service’s current closure is in place even when Trump is not staying at Mar-a-Lago. Councilmember Julie Araskog questioned whether a road closure of this scale had ever happened before.

“Has this ever happened before, where someone who’s been given Secret Service detail has completely shut down a town?” she asked at the meeting. “People are not feeling safe right now.”

The town sent a letter to the Secret Service requesting it explain its legal case to close off a road indefinitely, but has yet to receive a response from the security agency. 

“They may not even give us a response, frankly,” Town Manager Kirk Blouin said at the Town Council meeting. 

The road closure continuing into the busy season would be disastrous, according to town officials. Blouin said, “It will be gridlock for miles in either direction.”

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