Palm Beach Town Council to review updated traffic management agreement with Mar-a-Lago

A traffic-management agreement between the town and former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club will come back before the Town Council on Tuesday.

After twice deferring a vote on the agreement, council members will review and take action at their regular meeting at Town Hall. The new plan modifies the original written in 1999 and an updated version completed in 2023.

The latter update was made after the club received approval last May for a security guardhouse at its main entry gate on South Ocean Boulevard.

The agreement that will be presented Tuesday was submitted to the town on April 29, according to town documents. It features several changes from the previous version:

• Mar-a-Lago must notify Palm Beach Police for every special event of any size.

• For large events that require overflow parking, the club will make every effort to use an offsite parking facility to prescreen guests. If an offsite facility is used, guests will be notified before the event that they must arrive at the offsite facility. The club's security team will be staged at both the entrance to Mar-a-Lago and within the offsite facility.

• The director of security at Mar-a-Lago will be solely responsible for putting the traffic plan in place and making sure that any people hired to work for Mar-a-Lago to help control traffic are aware of and abide by the management plan.

The new agreement follows discussions between town officials, Mar-a-Lago representatives and the Secret Service about alleviating traffic issues near Mar-a-Lago, at 1100 S. Ocean Blvd.

In November, the council threatened to limit events at the club after two fundraising events for Trump's reelection campaign caused major traffic tie-ups. An Oct. 26 event that raised $6 million for the campaign delayed the start of the Safeguard Palm Beach South End Safety Forum by 30 minutes.

During the backup for guests to get into Mar-a-Lago, officials said the club had not opened its gate on South Ocean Boulevard when guests began to arrive, which meant cars began to queue in the north- and southbound lanes. A second fundraising event Nov. 13 also caused traffic tie-ups near Mar-a-Lago, this time because of a storm of ride-share vehicles and private shuttle buses dropping off guests on South Ocean Boulevard.

Proposed changes to the traffic plan first were presented in December. The council reviewed the agreement in March, but agreed to defer a formal vote because of last-minute changes that were submitted the day before the meeting.

"I just can't get something the night before and be expected to be prepared today," Councilwoman Julie Araskog said. The council again deferred a formal vote on the revised agreement in April.

Also Tuesday, the Town Council will:

• Hear a presentation on the townwide undergrounding project.

• Vote to approve an amended ordinance that would close the Lake Trail between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

• Hear presentations and make appointments to the Investment Advisory Committee and Recreation Advisory Commission.

• Vote on a resolution approving the Phipps Ocean Park Capital Grant and Operating Agreement with the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach.

• Hear an update on the Flood Vulnerability Assessment undertaken by the Woods Hole Group.

Council members will meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Town Hall for their regular meeting and at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday for development review. Members of the public can participate in person or via Zoom. Those wishing to make public comments virtually can access the Zoom link on the town's Meeting Audio page.

Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach to review updated Mar-a-Lago traffic management agreement