Town Manager Kirk Blouin said Friday he is asking the Secret Service to provide a legally defensible written order in support of its decision to close South Ocean Boulevard near Mar-a-Lago to through-traffic around the clock – including periods when Donald Trump is not in town.
“We don’t agree with the closure when he is not in town,” Blouin said. “I want a legal document ordering us to close the roadway when he is not in residence. I’m not an attorney, but I don’t believe it is legally defensible when he is not there. We are going to pursue our options, if need be, legally.”
Without the legal document, Blouin said, “We’re not closing that roadway when he is not in residence.”
Blouin said the town was notified by the Secret Service on Thursday of its decision to close South Ocean Boulevard near Mar-a-Lago 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the November 5 general election “at a minimum.”
The closure takes effect at 5 a.m. on Saturday, July 20, the town announced in a subsequent alert on Friday. (Thursday’s alert stated that the closure would occur at 4 p.m. on Saturday). It will be implemented by the Secret Service and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Blouin said.
The decision was made “due to enhanced security measures involving Mar-a-Lago and U.S. Secret Service-protected persons,” the town said in an email alert sent to residents on Thursday evening.
Blouin said the town agrees that South Ocean Boulevard in front of Mar-a-Lago should be closed to through-traffic for security purposes when Trump is in residence, whether as president or presidential nominee.
The town has always cooperated with the Secret Service on temporary road closures whenever Trump is in town, Blouin said.
“It’s standard protocol, court-tested and legally defensible,” he said.
Blouin is a former police officer who was Palm Beach’s police chief from 2009 until 2011 and its public safety director from 2011 until 2018, when he was named town manager.
South Ocean Boulevard will be closed to through-traffic from the intersection of South Ocean Boulevard and South County Road southward to the traffic circle where South Ocean Boulevard and Southern Boulevard connect, the Town of Palm Beach announced in an email alert Friday updating residents on the extent of the security action being taken.
South Ocean Boulevard is the only road that directly links Palm Beach’s North End and Midtown with the southern portion of the town. The closure will make it impossible to travel between the northern and southern portions of the island without crossing over a bridge into neighboring West Palm Beach or Lake Worth Beach.
The closure set to start on Saturday is a departure from the closures when Trump was president from 2017 until 2021, when South Ocean Boulevard near Mar-a-Lago would be closed from Trump’s arrival until his departure. The longest periods were typically when Trump would gather with his family at Mar-a-Lago for the holidays.
But this will be the first closure of such extended length and, depending on how long it lasts, potentially the first to coincide with the unprecedented traffic congestion the town has endured during recent winter seasons.
Town Councilman Lew Crampton, a South End resident, said the road closure is disruptive but understandable when Trump is in residence at Mar a Lago.
But he said the decision to close the road when Trump isn’t in town doesn’t make sense to him.
“It’s a bridge too far, in terms of the Secret Service slapping this new requirement on the town,” Crampton said. “I will support any effort of the Town Council or staff to get this changed back to the condition it was when Donald Trump was president.”
Thursday’s announcement came just hours before Trump, the Republican nominee for president in the November election, was scheduled to speak on the final night of his party’s convention in Milwaukee, Wis.
Trump was shot and wounded on July 13 while speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Penn. One person died and two others were injured in the shooting. The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot and killed by Secret Service.
Mayor Danielle Moore said the town will continue to work hand in hand with the Secret Service, which has jurisdiction over the protection of the Republican presidential nominee.
“I hope that there may be adjustments to the plans as the situation evolves,” Moore said. “Last weekend was a terrible tragedy and certainly nobody wants anything to happen in the Palm Beach community.”
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