Mar-a-Lago and the U.S. Secret Service have reached an agreement to reopen a stretch of South Ocean Boulevard near Mar-a-Lago when former President Donald Trump is not at home.
Mar-a-Lago announced the decision, which included other law enforcement agencies, prior to a scheduled Monday meeting between the Secret Service and Town Manager Kirk Blouin.
It was not immediately clear how soon the closed portion of South Ocean Boulevard will be reopened.
The Secret Service ordered the road closed on July 20, seven days after Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee for president, survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
South Ocean Boulevard has been closed around-the-clock, seven days a week, to all but local traffic between the intersection with South County Road and the Southern Boulevard traffic circle. The Secret Service initially said the road would remain closed at least through the November 5 general election.
South Ocean Boulevard is the only road on the island that links the northern and southern portions of the town. Blouin said at a council meeting last week that, if the road were to remain closed during the town’s busy winter season, he expected there would be traffic “gridlock for miles in each direction.”
Blouin and the town’s elected officials said they were swamped with email from residents and others expressing opinions or concerns about the around-the-clock closure.
Palm Beach officials have said they understand the need to protect the former president and GOP presidential nominee but have questioned the rationale for closing the road during periods when Trump is not in town.
Town Attorney Joanne O’Connor wrote a July 22 letter to the Secret Service requesting that it inform the town of the legal authority supporting the decision to close the road even when Trump is not at the residence.
Blouin told the Town Council at its August 13 meeting that town staff was prepared to research its legal options if it did not receive a response from the Secret Service.
At that meeting, Mayor Danielle Moore said that, if the road remains closed, then the Mar-a-Lago Club, which draws hundreds of people to its events during the winter season, should also be closed. The club operates under a 1993 declaration-of-use agreement approved by a previous Town Council.
Moore told the Palm Beach Civic Association on Monday that she believes residents will be relieved by the decision to reopen the road at times when Trump isn’t in Palm Beach. She noted that’s it’s the same arrangement that the Secret Service used to protect Trump while he was president from 2017 to 2021.
“I believe this is a good compromise,” Moore said. “I’m grateful that our residents won’t have to endure excess traffic congestion in that area of town. It was always just unfair, in my mind, to cut our town in half, permanently.”
Blouin could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.
According to the news release from Mar-a-Lago, Trump was “very opposed” to the closure of South Ocean Boulevard.
“President Trump, the Trump family and the Mar-a-Lago Club do not want to inconvenience anyone, especially their neighbors and greater community in Palm Beach,” a Trump family representative said in the news release. “The Trumps have been members of the community for 30 years. It is their home, and they share the sentiments of fellow town residents.”
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