Secret Service asks Palm Beach to maintain helipad
The Palm Beach City Council is considering a Secret Service request to maintain Mar-a-Lago’s helipad amid security, permitting and $264,000 construction.
- President Donald Trump is considering building a helipad on the South Lawn of the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- A helipad is also under construction at his winter White House, Mar-a-Lago.
- The U.S. Secret Service has asked the Palm Beach City Council to consider allowing Mar-a-Lago’s helipad to remain after the president’s term ends.
President Donald Trump is reportedly considering installing a landing pad for helicopters on the South Lawn of the White House.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that plans were being discussed to install a helipad on the south lawn to prevent the new Marine One helicopter from damaging the lawn. CNN and the Washington Post also reported on these discussions on May 18, citing anonymous sources. The White House did not comment specifically on the possibility of a helipad. Instead, press secretary Davis Ingle said, “President Trump has continued to make improvements to the White House and the Washington, D.C., area to benefit future presidents and the American people.”
The newspaper reported that the helipad has been under consideration for a long time. It would be the latest in a series of development projects around D.C., including a $400 million White House ballroom, repainting the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool, and a proposed 250-foot-tall “Arc de Triomphe.”
In Florida’s Winter White House, the helipad at Mar-a-Lago is strictly regulated by the town. The helipad installed during his first term was destroyed shortly after he left office. With Trump back in office, it is expected to be rebuilt in the coming months. The town recently considered granting a permit to keep the pad in place beyond the end of President Trump’s term.
Mar-a-Lago’s helipad was built and destroyed
When the Mar-a-Lago helipad was first approved by the Palm Beach City Council in 2017 at the beginning of President Trump’s first term, there was a condition that the concrete pad be removed when Trump leaves office.
During President Trump’s first term, the helipad was rarely used for presidential business. In one example in 2019, the site was used for takeoff and landing during the president’s visit to the Herbert Hoover Levee around Lake Okeechobee west of Palm Beach.
The original helipad was demolished in 2021, within weeks of Trump leaving the White House.
Late last year, Mar-a-Lago representatives returned to City Hall to ask for a larger pad to be reinstalled to accommodate new helicopters used to transport the president, White House staff and officials. The Landmarks Preservation Commission, which oversees changes to the landmark Mar-a-Lago’s exterior, approved the pad’s design in October.
The new pad will be 8 inches deep and will have an 18-foot-long, 5-foot-wide walkway connecting it to nearby service roads. The landing area will be on the grass on the west side of Mar-a-Lago, the same location as from 2017 to 2021. Construction is expected to occur this summer.
The town initially said the pad would need to be removed after Trump leaves the White House, but a new request from the Secret Service being considered by the Palm Beach City Council could change that.
Civilian’s use of pads causes ‘anxiety’ to mayor
The Secret Service has asked the town to allow the helipad to continue to be set up while Secret Service protected persons are at Mar-a-Lago. Mar-a-Lago Councilman Harvey Oyer told the town council in April that the helipad was needed because the continued and growing threat to Trump and his family could continue beyond the end of his presidential term.
Council members want to establish guardrails for how the pads can be used, including rules prohibiting anyone other than club members or members of law enforcement or the military from using the landing site. Oyer said these rules need to be established to protect the town and its residents.
“This is not for club use. It is not for club members’ use. It is not for personal use,” he told council. “This is for emergency evacuations by government agencies, (Trump’s) presidential duties, and agencies such as the Secret Service, White House military, and police departments.”
In December 2017, a civilian helicopter with a Trump logo was parked at the helipad for more than a week, sparking outrage from some residents and town officials who said its use violated the terms under which the landing site was approved.
Palm Beach Mayor Daniel Moore told the City Council in April that it was “troubling” to think the helipad might be used again to house commercial aircraft. She said she has heard the same thing from residents who are wondering how much control the town has over how the helipad is used.
Oyer said that after Trump’s term ends, the guardianship designation will only be extended to first lady Melania Trump and not to any of Trump’s children or relatives.
Kinsey Crowley is a Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact KCrowley@usatodayco.com. follow her X (Twitter), thread, blue sky and TikTok.
