PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Palm Beach County commissioners voted Tuesday to pause, rather than end, the county's lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration over flight restrictions around Mar-a-Lago and changes to arrival and departure routes at President Donald J. Trump International Airport, even as local leaders escalate their push against a proposal that could make those changes permanent.
WATCH BELOW: Residents urged to weigh in on possible permanent Mar-a-Lago flight restrictions
The county has already spent about $254,000 on the lawsuit. Commissioners debated whether continuing the legal fight would provide any meaningful relief to residents who say planes are now flying over their neighborhoods more frequently.
Some commissioners argued the FAA failed to follow proper procedures before implementing the changes and said residents deserve a voice in the process. Other commissioners questioned spending additional taxpayer dollars on a case they believe is unlikely to succeed.
Commissioners voted to place the lawsuit in abeyance, meaning it will remain on hold while preserving the county's ability to potentially challenge future FAA actions. Commissioners also directed staff to submit comments to the FAA before an Oct. 2 deadline related to the proposed permanent flight restrictions.
Split board weighs legal fight versus taxpayer dollars
Commissioners were divided on the best path forward questioning whether continuing the lawsuit would ultimately provide any relief for residents impacted by flight noise.
"I don't see us becoming victors in this lawsuit," Maria Marino said.
She argued that even if the county prevailed on procedural grounds, the federal government could simply correct the process and end up at the same result.
"Even if the court collectively goes through all of this and they decide they didn't follow policy, they are going to change it," said Vice Mayor Marci Woodward.
Woodward also suggested ending the legal fight could improve communication with federal agencies.
"When someone is suing us, it shuts down communication," she said. "I think us not continuing with the lawsuit and then charting a different path to try to get relief for your residents without going through a lawsuit might actually get something for your residents."
County Mayor Sara Baxter expressed similar concerns.
"I just can't see wasting money to end up with the same result," Baxter said.
"I just don't see no matter how much money we spend changing anything," said Baxter referencing national security.
Baxter also questioned whether keeping an active lawsuit against a federal agency could hurt the county when seeking grant funding.
County Administrator Joe Abruzzo called it common sense.
"We're going to be applying for grant dollars to an entity we are going to be suing is not ideal," Abruzzo said.
Weiss pushes to keep challenge alive
Commissioner Gregg Weiss strongly opposed abandoning the legal challenge.
Weiss said residents in affected neighborhoods have repeatedly asked county officials to fight for them after flight paths changed over their homes.
"They pay some of the highest taxes in this community," Weiss said. "They have asked us to represent them and to be their voice over something that they think was done to them that was improperly done."
Weiss has been leading the charge in listening to residents and pushing back against the flight restrictions.
Over the summer he asked the FAA and the secret service to lift flight restrictions while President Trump was away from Palm Beach County, but it was not successful.
Palm Beach County
County commissioner says 22,000 residents impacted by Mar-a-Lago flight path
Weiss argued the FAA failed to follow proper procedures before implementing the flight restrictions and subsequent flight path changes.
"The federal government didn't follow their own rules and did this to them," Weiss said.
At one point, Weiss read comments submitted by a constituent who opposed making the current flight path permanent.
"We purchased our home in 2019 knowing it was not in the flight path," the resident wrote.
The constituent argued the FAA had not gone through the proper process before implementing the changes and urged county leaders to continue fighting.
Weiss said pausing the case would preserve the county's ability to challenge future FAA actions while avoiding additional immediate legal costs.
"All we have to do is put this on pause," Weiss said. "It doesn't cost us any more money."
He called abandoning the lawsuit entirely "a dereliction of our duty."
"(We need to) hold them accountable like we would be held accountable for what we do," Weiss said.
What the flight restrictions mean for residents
The dispute centers on temporary flight restrictions tied to Mar-a-Lago that have rerouted planes over residential neighborhoods across Palm Beach County. The restrictions were put in place around Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach residence of President Donald Trump.
U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel said the original flight path was created years ago following environmental and safety reviews and was designed to affect as few residents as possible.
"It was back then about 2,200 homes and about 5,000 residents," Frankel said.
She said the Secret Service requested a 1-mile restriction around Mar-a-Lago from the ground up to 1,000 feet in September 2025. While the FAA accepted the 1-mile radius, Frankel said the resulting restrictions now affect far more residents than originally anticipated.
"So now instead of, you know, a small number of homes being affected, we have over 11,000 homes and over 21,000 residents as well as the schools and businesses," she said.
Frankel described the quality-of-life concerns many residents have raised.
Region C Palm Beach County
FAA flight restrictions around Mar-a-Lago spark lawsuit, resident frustration
"The planes are overhead as much as every 90 seconds," she said. "Imagine trying to sleep through that, having a conversation in your backyard that's impossible or being in a classroom with the kids trying to learn."
Data presented during a Citizens Committee on Airport Noise meeting revealed April had the busiest skies this year, with 7,434 flights departing east from the airport between January and June.
For residents like Donna Harris, the increase in air traffic has become part of everyday life.
"All of them, helicopters," Harris said. "Certain times we don't know if they're searching for criminals."
Harris said the volume of aircraft overhead has noticeably increased, especially planes flying directly above homes. She also worries about environmental impacts from the additional traffic, saying she now has to wash the truck parked in her driveway more often because of emissions.
West Palm Beach resident Rafael Clemente, who lives in the Flamingo Park neighborhood, said the issue extends beyond noise complaints.
"This is a really important issue that's truly affecting our quality of life, our property values," Clemente said. "My family and I, like thousands of others, bought a home outside of the flight path."
Leaders push back on proposed permanent restrictions
The week of Sept. 7, the FAA opened a formal rulemaking process that could permanently alter how aircraft arrive and depart from Palm Beach International Airport. Elected state officials, Palm Beach County leaders and representatives with the Town of Palm Beach are urging the FAA to slow down.
"Listen to the people. And do not just really do not rush to make these restrictions permanent," Frankel said during a news conference on Sept. 9.
Her message to the FAA was direct.
"Slow down," Frankel said. "We don't see any reason to make these flight restrictions permanent. It's unnecessary."
Palm Beach County Commissioner Greg Weiss echoed that concern.
"I've written on behalf of our constituents asking for an additional 30 or 60 days for the comment period because as was mentioned, people are out of town," Weiss said. "They just found out about it and to give them time to gather the information that they need to put together to address this."
Frankel said her office formally requested a 60-day extension to the public comment period.
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"We're requesting an extension of the period of time for comment," she said. "A lot of our citizens are still out of town."
Officials are also questioning why the FAA set a 2,000-foot minimum altitude when they say the Secret Service only requested 1,000 feet.
"That needs to be addressed. We also would like them to look at what other opportunities there might be, how they might be able to change, even with the rules in place, where those flights go, whether they can change some of the noise abatement rules that will provide better noise abatement for our residents," Weiss said.
Weiss said the altitude difference may be significant.
"If it was at 1,000 feet, most of the flights would be able to fly under their normal flight path," Weiss said.
Frankel argued that alternative approaches deserve further review.
"There are a lot of questions that deserve to be answered," she said. "FAA and Secret Service should be here on the ground and talk to our people."
She also criticized the agencies for declining requests to meet with local airport officials and residents.
"I have met a number of times with the Secret Service and I have talked with folks in the FAA and have requested that they come here and talk to the people and hear what the people have to say, and they have refused to do that," Frankel said.
"They're pretty much blowing off the public right now," she added.
Local governments want flexibility in any permanent rule
Town of Palm Beach Mayor Danielle Moore said local governments understand the need to protect the president but want any long-term policy to be flexible enough to change when circumstances change.
"We know that protecting the President of the United States is the number one goal," Moore said. "But times change, and when those times do change, we need to have the flexibility that the quality of life on the island reverts to the way it was prior to the president taking office in his second term."
"This whole proposal requires new scrutiny," Moore said. "If this is the government of the people for the people, they need to listen to the people who are actually living with this restriction."
Weiss agreed, saying any permanent rule should include a way to reverse the changes if security concerns no longer exist.
"If the president doesn't live there, Donald Trump doesn't live at Mar-a-Lago anymore, we should be able to go right back to the original flight path," Weiss said.
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Frankel also pointed to the FAA's own guidance on airspace restrictions.
"The FAA says that restrictions on airspace can be highly controversial and potentially disruptive and therefore require a strong justification, and the restrictions must be limited," she said. "And so we want them to live up to those words."
Despite concerns from some residents that the restrictions could ultimately become permanent regardless of public opposition, officials vowed to continue fighting the proposal.
"We are going to be fighting this whether they do this or not," Frankel said. "This is going to be a fight until this thing is correct."
"We want the president to be safe, but we want circumstances that allow for both, and we think both can occur," she added.
The ongoing legal challenge
Palm Beach County, the Town of Palm Beach and the City of West Palm Beach are currently involved in litigation against the FAA. Airport officials said the county's lawsuit does not directly seek to eliminate the restrictions. Instead, it argues the FAA failed to properly assess the impact the changes would have on residents before implementing them.
"We are challenging the FAA," Weiss said. "We're asking them, you know, to follow their own procedures that would have been required before they put in these flight restrictions."
Airport staff said FAA officials were invited to attend a recent Citizens Committee on Airport Noise meeting but declined due to ongoing litigation.
Committee member Teresa Johnson said residents need more transparency about how the new flight patterns are affecting communities.
"The citizens and this body needs to know what's happening," Johnson said. "Understand where those flights are going, how much noise they're making, when they're making the noise and for us to make our case."
"We're trying to figure out when will it go back to normalcy, what really needs to be done ensuring that these people have peace and quiet in their neighborhoods," Johnson said. "There's too much noise going over this community, what can be done?"
"We are all in agreement that we want our president to be safe, however the residents have a way of life," Johnson added.
Region C Palm Beach County
Leaders fight FAA plan for permanent Mar-a-Lago flight restrictions
The committee has been involved in efforts to install noise monitors and collect data on how loud aircraft are over neighborhoods affected by the rerouted flight paths. Airport officials told the committee the data would only be used to gather enough verified noise data to present to the FAA and the Secret Service, but it does not require them to make changes.
Frankel said she filed an amendment so that the FAA can meet with airport staff to possibly address some of the concerns already identified by both the airport and the committee.
Earlier this year, Weiss publicly urged the FAA and Secret Service to suspend the restrictions during periods when President Trump is not staying at Mar-a-Lago.
"If he's not here who are you protecting?" Weiss said. "We need to make sure he is secure, he's the president of the United States. If he were to come back some time during the summer for whatever reason they would simply reinstitute them."
According to Weiss' office, the county has not received a response to that request. Those requests were ultimately not granted, and the flight patterns remained in place even while the president was out of town.
Current flight restrictions are set to expire in October, but airport officials say the FAA could still decide to extend them — or make them permanent — even as litigation moves forward because of national security concerns.
Split board weighs legal fight versus taxpayer dollars
Commissioners were divided on the best path forward questioning whether continuing the lawsuit would ultimately provide any relief for residents impacted by flight noise.
"I don't see us becoming victors in this lawsuit," Maria Marino said.
She argued that even if the county prevailed on procedural grounds, the federal government could simply correct the process and end up at the same result.
"Even if the court collectively goes through all of this and they decide they didn't follow policy, they are going to change it," said Vice Mayor Marci Woodward
Woodward also suggested ending the legal fight could improve communication with federal agencies.
"When someone is suing us, it shuts down communication," she said. "I think us not continuing with the lawsuit and then charting a different path to try to get relief for your residents without going through a lawsuit might actually get something for your residents."
Commissioner Maria Sachs expressed similar concerns.
"I just can't see wasting money to end up with the same result," Baxter said.
"I just don't see no matter how much money we spend changing anything," said Baxter referencing national security.
Baxter also questioned whether keeping an active lawsuit against a federal agency could hurt the county when seeking grant funding.
County Administrator Joe Abruzzo called it common sense.
"We're going to be applying for grant dollars to an entity we are going to be suing is not ideal," Abruzzo said.
Weiss pushes to keep challenge alive
Commissioner Gregg Weiss strongly opposed abandoning the legal challenge.
Weiss said residents in affected neighborhoods have repeatedly asked county officials to fight for them after flight paths changed over their homes.
"They pay some of the highest taxes in this community," Weiss said. "They have asked us to represent them and to be their voice over something that they think was done to them that was improperly done."
Weiss has been leading the charge in listening to residents and pushing back against the flight restrictions.
Over the summer he asked the FAA and the secret service to lift flight restrictions while President Trump was away from Palm Beach County, but it was not successful.
Weiss argued the FAA failed to follow proper procedures before implementing the flight restrictions and subsequent flight path changes.
"The federal government didn't follow their own rules and did this to them," Weiss said.
At one point, Weiss read comments submitted by a constituent who opposed making the current flight path permanent.
"We purchased our home in 2019 knowing it was not in the flight path," the resident wrote.
The constituent argued the FAA had not gone through the proper process before implementing the changes and urged county leaders to continue fighting.
Weiss said pausing the case would preserve the county's ability to challenge future FAA actions while avoiding additional immediate legal costs.
"All we have to do is put this on pause," Weiss said. "It doesn't cost us any more money."
He called abandoning the lawsuit entirely "a dereliction of our duty."
"(We need to) hold them accountable like we would be held accountable for what we do," Weiss said.
FAA responds
The FAA provided a statement in response to questions about the proposed permanent rule.
"At the request of the U.S. Secret Service in the interest of national security, the FAA is proposing Special Air Traffic Rules for the airspace near Donald J. Trump International Airport (DJT)," the FAA said. "The Notice of Proposed Rule Making would restrict aircraft operations within the DJT Special Flight Rules Area, allowing flights only if specific safety and operational conditions are met."
Clemente urged affected residents to take action before the comment window closes.
"If you're a resident like me and you're affected, I do encourage you with this window of time that we have to lodge your complaint with the FAA," Clemente said. "We have a narrow window of time, and this is a critical opportunity for us to establish our position."
Residents who want to weigh in on the proposed changes have until Oct. 2 to submit comments through the Federal Register website, here.
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