Since it was erected in 2006 at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, a 70-foot-tall flagpole has remained unpermitted, even now that it's finally gotten permission to get permitted; today, Polegate continues. The flagpole has always been illegal, but the golf course managed to get an exemption for it just last year. All they had to do was turn in a permit application, but they just haven't, and it doesn't look like anyone on their end is in a huge rush to remedy the situation. "For all the years of debate, the final step seems to be an afterthought," says the Daily Breeze. How will Trump make America great again if he can't even turn in an application for a flagpole?
RPV officials have been trying to nudge the golf course toward sending in their application, but aren't doing a great job of making things seem urgent. "While I know that you have been busy with other matters," reads a recent letter from Rancho Palos Verdes's senior planner to the manager of the golf course, perhaps referring to Trump's presidential bid, "This is a reminder that you still need to submit a Coastal Permit application for the 70-foot tall flagpole, which will need to be acted on by the City Council at a duly noticed public hearing sometime in the future." Sometime in the future? The heat is ON!
The flagpole's height is well over RPV's 26-foot limit, though it took a while for anyone to really get around to cracking down on the lawbreaking at the golf course. Last year, the California Coastal Commission was swayed by a small group of local supporters of the patriotic pole and decided to let the golf course keep the flag flying, provided that they submitted an application for a Coastal Permit.
RPV even changed their height requirements to make an exception for the flagpole, and previously granted "retroactive approval" to the structure, so in their eyes, it was good to go. Since RPV already approved, getting the Coastal Permit is just a "procedural" issue, says one official with RPV's Community Development Department, though until it gets the permit, it's technically still very much illegal. "As of now, it's an unpermitted flagpole, which has been the case since it was installed without a permit," an analyst with the CCC tells the DB.
This is not the first time Trump's golf course has had a hard time figuring out how to do things legally: over the summer, the CCC also stopped work on a "waterfall removal project" on the golf course that was being done with RPV approval, but without the okay of the CCC. There was also an issue with some too-tall ficus trees that were planted to shield golfers' eyes from some unsightly homes near the golf course.
· Giant flagpole at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes still unpermitted [DB]
· Donald Trump Allowed to Keep Illegally Huge Flagpole in RPV [Curbed LA]
· Revisiting Trump Vs. Rancho Palos Verdes in Flagpole, Ficus Feuds [Curbed LA]