Positive News Today

Positive News Today
Global Events

A Glitch in Trump’s Plan to Live at Mar-a-Lago: A Pact He Signed Says He Can’t

December 23, 202007
Share0

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

Neighbors of the president say he has violated the 1993 agreement he made with Palm Beach that allowed him to convert a private residence into a moneymaking club.

A use agreement says no member of the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., may stay on the property for more than 21 days a year. A use agreement says no member of the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., may stay on the property for more than 21 days a year.Credit…Saul Martinez for The New York Times Maggie Haberman

  • Dec. 16, 2020

Leer en español

President Trump’s neighbors in Florida are seeking to enforce a decades-old compact that says Mar-a-Lago, his private social club, cannot be used as a full-time residence — as Mr. Trump has suggested he plans to do after he leaves the White House.

Neighbors of Mar-a-Lago sent a letter to the Town of Palm Beach and the U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday complaining that Mr. Trump has violated the 1993 agreement he made with the town that allowed him to convert the property to a moneymaking club.

“Per the use agreement of 1993, Mar-a-Lago is a social club, and no one may reside on the property,” wrote Reginald Stambaugh, a lawyer representing the DeMoss family, which has a property next to Mar-a-Lago.

“To avoid an embarrassing situation for everyone and to give the president time to make other living arrangements in the area, we trust you will work with his team to remind them of the use agreement parameters,” Mr. Stambaugh wrote. “Palm Beach has many lovely estates for sale, and surely he can find one which meets his needs.”

The letter came as Mr. Trump’s days in office are winding down and he is proceeding with plans to move with his wife and son to Florida after the inauguration of his successor, President-elect Joseph R. Biden. Jr., on Jan. 20. The New York Times reported in 2018 that Mr. Trump had changed his domicile to Mar-a-Lago, in part for tax purposes. Almost immediately, residents of the town began raising questions about the legality of the move, given the agreement the president struck with the town decades ago.

Construction has been done on the president’s residential quarters at the club, where Mr. Trump is expected to spend the Christmas holiday and which Mr. Stambaugh argued already violates the use agreement.

A White House spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Stambaugh’s complaint, which was first reported by The Washington Post, and the mayor of Palm Beach and a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Glenn Zeitz, a New Jersey-based lawyer who is assisting Mr. Stambaugh and is not being paid by the DeMoss family, said the town had declined to enforce certain aspects of the agreement in the past on several issues, including how many days a year the president has stayed there.

In other instances, Mr. Trump has been given leeway by the town because of legitimate security concerns. Among them was the addition of a helipad for Marine One, which will be removed after he leaves office.

“As president, I think they gave him certain considerations that they felt were the appropriate thing because of his status,” said Mr. Zeitz, who encountered Mr. Trump decades ago when he represented a client whose property the then-casino owner wanted for an Atlantic City expansion.

Mr. Trump has sought to do things like build a dock attached to his property that the agreement prohibited, ostensibly for club members’ use. That effort was blocked by the town, and then the president submitted a revised effort claiming it was for private use for himself and the first lady. He withdrew the second dock petition after the 1993 use agreement became public.

With the letter, Mr. Stambaugh is hoping to push the town to make clear that Mr. Trump is flouting the terms of his agreement allowing him to convert the sprawling Mar-a-Lago property, once owned by Marjorie Merriweather Post, from a private residence into a club.

“The significant tax breaks the president received for this arrangement remain in effect, as does the use agreement,” Mr. Stambaugh wrote. “Some press reports indicate that renovation has already commenced at Mar-a-Lago in order to make the family quarters more commodious for full-time residency.”

Part of that use agreement, which was reviewed by The Times, limits how long members can stay there. It says that there cannot be stays for “three nonconsecutive seven-day periods by any one member during the year.”

The club is also supposed to file sworn statements with the town each year asserting that a minimum of 50 percent of its members live or work in Palm Beach and that the club has no more than 500 members.

Some of those reports have not been filed. And the club has seen a boom in the number of members who have joined in the past few years, according to records reviewed by The Times, although it is not clear if they replaced departing members.

Continue reading the main story

Source

Share0
previous post
Your Wednesday Briefing
next post
Vedanta arm set to begin oil, natural gas exploration in Krishna district

Related posts

Biden’s Education Department Will Move Fast to Reverse Betsy DeVos’s Policies

TheEarthLabDecember 2, 2020

Environmental News Network – Native Hawaiian Sea Snails Eat Invasive Sponge

TheEarthLabAugust 23, 2020

Republicans Struggle to Derail Increasingly Popular Stimulus Package

TheEarthLabFebruary 24, 2021
Click to comment

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Recent Posts

  • What’s the Key to Raising Confident Kids? Here’s What the Majority of Parents Say…
  • Kenyan Woman’s Startup Recycles Plastic Waste into Bricks That Are 5x Stronger Than Concrete
  • Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved claims it has a WHO-approved Covid medicine
  • Scouting for allies before debut, Amazon pledged minimum returns
  • Gulf Oil inks agreement to buy Ocean Tankers’ lubricants plant in Singapore

Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020

Subscrible

Subscribe my Newsletter for new blog posts, tips & new photos. Let's stay updated!

  • News
  • Projects
  • About
  • Contact
  • TV Pitch
FacebookTwitterInstagram
@2020 - thelab.earth. All Right Reserved.
theLAB.earth
  • Global
    • Global News
    • Global Media
    • Global Events
    • Global Projects
  • Energy
    • Energy News
    • Energy Media
    • Energy Events
    • Energy Projects
  • Water
    • Water News
    • Water Media
    • Water Events
    • Water Projects
  • Human Kindness
    • Human Kindness News
    • Human Kindness Media
    • Human Kindness Events
    • Human Kindness Projects
  • Projects
logo
  • Global
    • Global News
    • Global Media
    • Global Events
    • Global Projects
  • Energy
    • Energy News
    • Energy Media
    • Energy Events
    • Energy Projects
  • Water
    • Water News
    • Water Media
    • Water Events
    • Water Projects
  • Human Kindness
    • Human Kindness News
    • Human Kindness Media
    • Human Kindness Events
    • Human Kindness Projects
  • Projects
@2020 - thelab.earth. All Right Reserved.
FacebookTwitterInstagram