Palm Beach’s Town Council voted Tuesday to request a 60-day extension of a public comment period on a proposal to make the federal flight ban over Mar-a-Lago permanent.
Mayor Danielle Moore and Town Council members said the existing 30-day window is not sufficient for residents to express their concerns.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s plan, submitted September 2, would enshrine temporary flight restrictions that have been in place since October 20, 2025. The restrictions ban most flights within one nautical mile of Mar-a-Lago, even when President Trump is away from the private club.
The FAA set October 2 as the deadline to receive public comment on the proposal.
The flight restriction has changed the way many planes fly in and out of Donald J. Trump International Airport. Most commercial flights now pass over Midtown and some of West Palm Beach’s historic neighborhoods. The change has ignited concerns about noise and environmental impacts for those who live in more than 11,000 homes along the new flight path.
At Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, member Lew Crampton said residents need more time to voice their opinions before the change becomes final.
“Clearly, the first thing we should be doing is requesting an extension of the comment period under the FAA rules,” Crampton told his colleagues. “… I just want to point out that the residents are getting organized. This particular effort that would make [the flight restriction] permanent has created a spark that is going to result in a prairie fire in terms of opposition to this effort.”
Crampton added, “Whatever we can do, working with the town and other public bodies to make this thing go away, or modify it, that we will do.”
Crampton read a statement he said he received from Wilbur Ross, a cabinet member in Trump’s first administration whose Palm Beach house lies directly under the new flight path.
The statement quoted Ross as objecting to a permanent flight restriction around Mar-a-Lago, citing detrimental consequences to property values and residents’ health.
“The health damages we would suffer under the proposal are one thing,” the statement read. “Making it permanent, even after [Trump] leaves office, is entirely another.”
Resident Catherine Bauman told the council she was speaking on behalf of “more than 1,900 local residents” who signed a Quiet Skies Coalition petition opposing the flight path changes that redirected aircraft away from Mar-a-Lago and over their homes. The petition cites noise and impacts to residents’ health and safety.
Bauman said 30 days is not enough time for residents to respond to the FAA decision to make the new flight path permanent.
“Many residents are still away,” she said. “Many others do not even know this is happening. But the proposal is not final. Public comments do three important things. First, they show how the flight path affects our community. Second, they offer better alternatives that could change the final rule. Three, they help to preserve our rights to challenge that rule later.”
She added, “We fully support protecting the president. We simply ask that it be done with the least possible harm to our community.”
Bauman asked the town to request a 60-day extension of the comment period; to submit formal comments with aviation alternatives, backed by legal and technical research; and to pursue every legal option, including the existing litigation opposing the restriction.
Town Attorney Joanne O’Connor said the town’s litigation is an appeal of multiple FAA orders pertaining to the Mar-a-Lago no-fly zone and dating to October 2025 and January 2026.
Palm Beach, West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County appealed the orders in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, where the cases were consolidated by a judge. The town, city and county have filed a joint petitioners’ brief posted on the town’s website.
There won’t be a trial, O’Connor said. Instead, the federal appellate court will review the FAA order and decide if it followed the law.
In its August response to the appeals, the FAA said threats against Secret Service protectees are up about 40 percent over a year ago.
Palm Beach and West Palm Beach are represented in the case by the law firm of Jackson Walker in Dallas, and the county is represented by the law firm of Kaplan Kirsch in Washington, D.C., and Denver, O’Connor said.
The appeals are separate from the FAA’s proposed rulemaking for which it is accepting comment under the October 2 deadline.
The town has posted information about the flight restrictions, along with a link to submit comments, at townofpalmbeach.com under “current issues – FAA.”
“The more detail you can provide, based on your own personal experience of noise or debris or soot, or [how] it’s affecting historic properties, that’s really helpful,” O’Connor said.
Residents can go online to regulations.gov/commenton/FAA-2026-10827-0001 to lodge comments about the proposed regulation with the Federal Aviation Administration. As of now, the deadline remains October 2.
United opposition
During a news conference Wednesday on the south side of Trump International, Palm Beach Mayor Danielle Moore, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel and Palm Beach County Commissioner Greg Weiss encouraged residents to submit comments through the federal website calling for an extension.
“We don’t see any reasons to make the flight restrictions permanent,” Frankel said.
Officials’ requests to extend the public comment deadline, and for federal officials to justify the flight path changes to local officials, have been ignored, Frankel said.
“They’re pretty much blowing off the public,” she said.
In June, Frankel proposed an amendment to a congressional funding bill that would require the FAA to consult with Palm Beach County airport officials on the Mar-a-Lago restricted fly zone. The bill has not been voted on in the House of Representatives.
Trump has attempted to shift departing flights away from Mar-a-Lago since 1985, when he first sued over the flight noise.
When the FAA changed the flight paths in October 2025, officials there said the change was requested by the Secret Service for Trump’s security.
To receive Palm Beach TV, Our Town News, The Civic and more in your inbox sign up HERE.
To sign up for text notifications from Palm Beach Civic Association go HERE.
Our Town sponsored by:
