The skies over Palm Beach are no longer a refuge for residents, who say their community has been engulfed by the constant roar of low-flying planes ever since a no-fly zone was established over Mar-a-Lago.
Aircraft that once followed routine paths now thunder directly over homes that had previously escaped both the noise and pollution.
This change came abruptly in October 2024, when the Secret Service implemented new flight restrictions. The order rerouted planes away from Mar-a-Lago—normally within Palm Beach International Airport’s established flight path—and over previously unaffected neighborhoods, according to The Washington Post.
Residents describe the result as chaotic and intolerable. “You can no longer enjoy your existence outdoors,” Alexandra Kauka, a local resident, told Bloomberg.
The disruption, she said, is compounded by frustration with the president himself. “The president wants to be well-liked here, and that’s hard to accomplish for him in Palm Beach at the moment,” she added. “It’s just reckless and unnecessary.”
The elite community, where the median home sale price was $13.2 million at the end of last year, is now mobilizing legal action, according to Bloomberg.
Homeowners have hired attorneys and installed expensive noise-monitoring equipment throughout the island and across waterways. An anonymous organizer is documenting the findings on PBInoise.com, a site that tracks daily plane noise, ranks the loudest days, and records flight frequency.
Beyond daily disturbances, property values are a growing concern.
Palm Beach was one of the few counties in Florida that Trump lost in the 2024 election, and residents worry that constant aircraft noise could depress prices.
While South Florida real estate has surged since the pandemic, studies and brokers warn that living under a major flight path can reduce property values by 10 percent to 20 percent.
“We’re talking about really very significant changes in property value here,” venture capitalist David Skok said at a December meeting of the Citizens’ Committee on Airport Noise, according to Bloomberg.
Skok added that Trump knew Mar-a-Lago sat under the flight path when he purchased it but has been “fighting it ever since.”
“Trump has made it clear that he has not liked being part of this flight path and this might be his attempt to try to fix that for the value of his home.”
The president has a long history of challenging planes over Mar-a-Lago, which he bought in 1985 for $8 million.
Between 1995 and 2015, he sued the county and airport three times. The first case was dropped after the county widened the flight path and leased Trump 200 acres, where he built Trump International Golf Club.
A second suit in 2010 was dismissed, and a third filed in 2015 was dropped after his 2016 election, when planes no longer flew over the property during his stays.
In October, the Federal Aviation Administration enacted a new rule barring all flights below 2,000 feet over Mar-a-Lago, even when Trump isn’t present, citing security concerns.
The order is valid for one year and can be renewed, but residents fear it could become permanent. “This is an opportunity for him to seize what he’s really wanted to do for a very long time,” a resident told the Citizens Committee on Airport Noise last year. “This could be stretched for three years. It could be forever.”
Meanwhile, residents don’t buy that the changes were made for security reasons.
“People in the neighborhoods affected tell me they think this is about Trump not wanting the noise and soot on the patios and beach chairs he has by the pool at Mar-a-Lago,” U.S. Representative Lois Frankel, whose district includes parts of Palm Beach County, told Bloomberg.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
