PALM BEACH, Florida − A larger helicopter landing pad could be on the way to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.
Representatives for Trump’s historic Palm Beach estate filed a request with the town on Aug. 21 for a certificate of appropriateness to build a concrete helipad that would be 60 feet in diameter, 10 feet wider than the previous pad, according to Palm Beach records.
Mar-a-Lago had a helipad during Trump’s first term in office from 2017 to 2021. It measured 50 feet across and 8 inches deep and sat on the 17.5-acre property’s west lawn. The helipad was demolished in 2021 after Trump left office, a condition issued by the Town Council when the pad’s design was approved. The proposed pad also would be 8 inches deep, town records show.
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If the new design is approved, the landing pad must be larger to accommodate the newer helicopters being used by the U.S. Marine Corps to transport the president, attorney Harvey Oyer of Shutts & Bowen, Mar-a-Lago’s agent on the project, said in an interview with the Daily News.
“It allows Marine One to land safely,” Oyer said of the proposed helipad.
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The helicopter-landing pad would be on the same spot as the previous one, according to the letter of intent submitted with the request by Oyer.
Last year, the Marine Corps began using the new Sikorsky VH-92 Patriot to transport the president, replacing two older helicopter models that served as Marine One, the name for a helicopter when it carries the Commander in Chief. The VH-92A has a maximum weight of 27,700 pounds, more than 5,000 pounds heavier than the VH-60N and more than 6,000 pounds heavier than the VH-3D, the two previous helicopter models used by the Marine Corps, according to documents filed with the town that include details provided by Marine Helicopter Squadron 1.
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Town Attorney Joanne O’Connor and town staff reviewed the Town Council’s 2017 approval and said the council will not need to approve the reconstruction “since the Town Council Approval covered multiple terms of office for President Trump,” according to the letter of intent.
Still, because the terms and conditions of the previous approval would apply to the updated plans, the Landmarks Preservation Commission will need to review and approve the project, Oyer wrote in the letter.
The helipad could be on the landmarks board’s agenda as soon as the Oct. 22 meeting, according to town documents.
Both the former and current pad plans were designed by Rick Gonzalez of West Palm Beach-based REG Architects.
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Because Mar-a-Lago is a National Historic Landmark, the National Trust for Historic Preservation had to review and approve the helipad’s construction in 2017 and again this year. The National Trust approved the updated plans in a letter dated Aug. 19 that was included with the letter of intent.
The National Trust found in reviewing the plans that the helipad would not destroy any historic materials or features, and no landscaping — aside from turf — or trees will be altered or removed, wrote Claire Jones, associate director of the trust’s easement program.
The National Trust also noted that the helipad will be built with “non-glare, pigmented concrete to minimize visual impact,” she wrote.
When first proposed in 2017, the helipad faced some pushback from residents, including one neighbor whose attorney argued to town officials that helicopters taking off from and landing at Mar-a-Lago would exceed the town’s noise limits and disrupt nearby residents’ way of life.
The Marine Corps argued at the time that the helipad was necessary for security reasons. It was seldom used during Trump’s first term as president.
The first recorded use was in April of 2017. A Trump-branded helicopter landed and remained on the pad for about 24 hours while Trump visited Mar-a-Lago with his family. The Trump Organization’s helicopter caused a stir and raised questions about how and when the helipad would be used.
While the Town Council had said in its approval that the helipad could be used “for business related to the presidency only,” a town official at the time told the Daily News that approval did not specify what kind of helicopter could land there.
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That helicopter landed on the pad again in December of 2017.
One Marine One landing at Mar-a-Lago happened in 2019 when Trump visited the Herbert Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee.
As a condition of approving the helipad, Palm Beach required that it be demolished when Trump left office. A permit for the pad’s removal was requested in February of 2021, and the helipad was gone within two weeks.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on USATNetwork: Larger helipad planned for President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
