A Palm Beach board has delayed its decision on the design of a new building for President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, after commission members asked for several changes to be made to the plans.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted March 18 to defer the project to its April 22 meeting.
The team behind the proposed single-story building, which would house two large 400 kw generators, was given a to-do list of alterations based on the commission’s recommendations. The commission’s review followed the Town Council’s approval on March 4 of a special exception and site plan for the structure.
The generators are needed to provide continuous power for security and surveillance systems at the president’s primary residence, Matthew W. Plant, Secret Service deputy special agent in charge, wrote in a letter to the council in support of the new structure.
Mar-a-Lago “relies heavily on uninterrupted electrical power to maintain essential security systems, including surveillance cameras, alarm zones, access control readers, lighting and communications equipment, all of which must operate uninterrupted and be continuously monitored by the (Secret Service),” Plant wrote.
Architect Rick Gonzalez of REG Architects was asked to revise the design of windows on the 763-square-foot building’s east side; remove a crest over the building’s main entrance and redesign the roof and an overhang above the door. The board also requested that the intake and exhaust louvers be redesigned to resemble shutters and that their color change from brown to off-white. The front door would have four-paned windows instead of five-paned.
A rendering shows a proposed generator building at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. The 763-square-foot structure would house two 400-kilowatt generators.
The commission also asked the project team to return with an elevation looking from south to north and including nearby buildings to the east and west of the proposed structure.
The building would provide backup power for club operations, land planner Roger Ramdeen of the law firm Shutts and Bowen, which represents Mar-a-Lago, told the board. There are now smaller, temporary generators on the north side of the property, close to the estates that border the 17-acre Mar-a-Lago property, he said.
Project representatives told the commission it was urgent to begin construction as soon as possible. While the board members seemed prepared to approve the design with conditions that would return for further review, they stopped short of that action given the scope of the changes requested.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s design approval is needed because Palm Beach declared Mar-a-Lago a landmark in 1979.
Mar-a-Lago also is a national historic landmark, so the plans require approval from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The trust as of the March 18 meeting had issued a letter of conceptual approval for the new building. While more landscaping could be added to the plan based on feedback from the National Trust, commissioners said they would approve the landscaping plan as proposed by Dustin Mizell of Environmental Design Group.
The project is being paid for by Mar-a-Lago, which is owned by Mar-a-Lago Club Inc., a Florida registered corporation for which President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., serves as president, director, chairman, vice president, secretary and treasurer, according to state records.
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 Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach board demands changes to planned building at Mar-a-Lago
