The Palm Beach Town Council is exploring its options after the Secret Service closed a busy road near former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, snarling traffic on the Florida barrier island. The town’s mayor suggested Tuesday the club may not be able to reopen this fall.

On July 20 — a week after Trump was wounded in a failed assassination attempt in Pennsylvania — the Secret Service closed a stretch of South Ocean Boulevard as part of its increased security measures. Town officials said the closure is expected to continue until at least Election Day in November, even when Trump is not at the private club, where he also resides.

Residents of and visitors to the affected area must show identification at a single checkpoint.

There have been “severe impacts” in Palm Beach and surrounding communities, including congestion on the Royal Park Bridge, Town Manager Kirk Blouin told the council. Businesses are also be affected, council members said.

Residents in the area don’t feel safe, said Councilwoman Julie Araskog, adding it takes some people two hours to travel from one side of the island to the other.

“It's hard to get a fire truck through,” she said. “It's hard to get out of their homes. It's hard to get a caregiver in.”

An attorney for the town wrote a letter to the Secret Service on July 22 asking the agency to “provide the legal authority authorizing it to implement the road closure for the specified duration and even when protectee(s) are not in residence in the Town.”

Blouin said the town is still waiting for the Secret Service’s response and conceded it might not receive one. He acknowledged there is case law that allows the Secret Service to shut down an area to protect someone. But he said the town is preparing to do legal research to determine what its options are.

Asked Araskog: “Can Secret Service be allowed to stop a town from flowing? And I do think it's very important to find that out.”

Mayor Danielle Moore said it’s “illogical” that Mar-a-Lago would reopen while the road closure is still in place. 

“In my mind, if the road is closed, the Mar-a-Lago Club is closed,” Moore said. “I mean, there’s no way in God’s green earth that they can bring 350 people into that club. It’s completely illogical that you've got a road closed and then you're going let 350 strangers into your club. Absolutely not.”

Moore indicated she had not planned to bring up the possibility of closing Mar-a-Lago to visitors until Araskog asked a question about the impact “when the club opens and becomes busy.”

In 1993, the council allowed Trump to operate Mar-a-Lago as a private social club in a residential zoning district under a special agreement. Some residents who wanted to prevent Trump from switching his primary residence to the club in 2021 cited that deal, but the town’s attorney concluded the agreement did not specifically bar the former president from living there. 

However, the town can reportedly revoke Mar-a-Lago’s operational license if it finds it has violated the agreement. In the past, officials have questioned whether health and safety issues raised by residents could be reason to dissolve the deal, according to the Palm Beach Daily News.

Some officials stressed politics has nothing to do with their concerns.

“As we discuss our updates going forward, I would ask that any public comments be productive and not emotional or political,” Blouin said. “As a government, we are not political, and we don't treat this as an emotional matter.”

The Secret Service said in a statement to Spectrum News it “elevated the protective posture of all our protectees” following the assassination attempt and that it works with public safety partners to “establish the best possible security plan while minimizing the disruptions to the public, residences and businesses.”

“Once a security plan is enacted, the Secret Service continuously monitors and evaluates the security plan and makes adjustments accordingly,” the statement said. 

The agency confirmed it had received Palm Beach’s letter and said it “will continue to work with the community, businesses and our law enforcement partners.”

The Trump campaign has not responded to a request for a comment.

Note: This article was updated to include the Secret Service’s statement.