Trump golf course isn’t making the grade: code violation records

A Trump Organization golf course in California has been in the rough for more than a year with an alleged municipal code violation, according to government records exclusively obtained by Raw Story.

Municipal officials in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., cited The Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles for a violation involving “grading or retaining wall without a permit” on November 28, 2022.

More than a year later, the violation is still open and active, Enyssa Sisson, administrative analyst for the Rancho Palos Verdes’ City Clerk’s Office, told Raw Story via email, with no changes in the last six months.

While a code violation is a minor legal concern for former President Donald Trump, who is facing 91 felony charges across four indictments, the golf course code dispute is the latest example of Trump’s disdain for laws that don’t suit him — and his willingness to ignore or fight against them.

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More acutely, the former president’s Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles is part of another legal drama — a New York civil fraud case — for which Trump and his family are currently at trial.

The suit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James alleges that Trump inflated the value of his Rancho Palos Verdes golf course by $50 million in 2013 to obtain a conservation easement resulting in a tax break, Patch reported.

Back on Feb. 16, Jill Martin, an attorney for the Trump Organization, received a letter notification about the grading permit violation, requiring the property to get in touch with the city’s Planning Division to “obtain an after-the-fact major grading permit for your project,” said the letter obtained by Raw Story through a California Public Records Act request.

The notification also referenced a separate Jan. 11 letter that required the property to submit plans to the Planning Division within 30 days.

“Planning Division staff is working with the persons responsible for resolving the violation,” said Gerri Whitten, code enforcement officer for the city of Rancho Palos Verdes, via email this week to Raw Story.

Whitten indicated that there had been action in the case since the Feb. 16 letter but did not provide specifics and declined to share further details until the case is closed.

However, a June case violation report obtained by Raw Story via a California Public Records request showed no action since Feb. 16, and Sisson said no changes had happened since the June report was released.

“Per our Code Enforcement: This document is not updated unless additional violations are added. There are no changes at this time,” Sisson told Raw Story Wednesday.

Martin, of the Trump Organization, did not respond to Raw Story’s phone call requesting comment. The Trump Organization did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Double bogey?

To have an open code violation on a public golf course for more than a year is “scary,” said Jamin Katzer, senior construction manager at Denver-based general contractor Earth Saving Solutions.

“If you had a problem on your car, and the manufacturers found there was a violation on your car, and then they had a year to fix it, how would you feel?” said Katzer, who has 25 years of construction experience and has worked with city, county and state officials on inspections for more than 16 years. “It's not getting taken care of. A year is ridiculous.”

The Trump golf course violation involved the grading of Lot 38 near the fourth hole on the course, which was previously permitted in April 2015 for the removal of a waterfall, according to the City of Rancho Palos Verdes website. Lot C was also possibly in violation, the letter said.

Katzer said the public nature of the 18-hole golf course and development consisting of a driving range, bike trails, public parklands and housing raises safety concerns and the question of “what all did they cut corners on?”

Trump seen in the rough at Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Va., on Father's Day 2020. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

“You should know what you're allowed to and not allowed to do if you're owning a business or if you're running a property, for example, a golf course,” said Katzer. “They should know and understand, can I build a wall of X amount of size without getting an inspection? Can I move this much dirt without getting an inspection?”

Katzer said permitting citations — generally speaking — can happen when someone with construction knowledge observes work being done without a posted permit or an injury or lawsuit occurs in relation to a property.

“It kind of gets into the gray area of are they just trying to skip running through the hoops of that and not paying the fees to get inspected? Or are they on a time crunch, and they didn't have time to get it done? Or did they just not feel that it was something that they needed to be inspected?” Katzer said.

Par for the course: A history of tension

Trump bought the golf course in October 2002, according to the City of Rancho Palos Verdes website.

Just a few years before that, in June 1999, a landslide sent a portion of the course’s 18th hole into the Pacific Ocean. The landslide repair plan was approved by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes and California Coastal Commission, with rebuilding complete in late 2005.

Trump was viewed as a “white knight” when he first came to Rancho Palos Verdes, former City Councilman Tom Long recalled to NPR, but Trump ended up picking fights with the city and its residents. The same happened five years later when Trump promised to transform the fate of a destitute area of Fresno, Calif., with a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, but he ended up fighting with the local government to the point that the project fell apart, the Center for Public Integrity reported.

In Rancho Palos Verdes, Trump sued the public school district in a 2003 land dispute that was eventually settled with Trump paying $5 million to own the land — after costing the district at least $100,000 in legal fees and raising concerns about the district’s abilities to fix aging school facilities, NPR reported.

Then there was a debate about a 70-foot flagpole erected by Trump in 2006 to fly the American flag. The existing flagpole was approved for a building permit in May 2016, according to the Rancho Palos Verdes website. Another dispute took place in 2007 around Trump growing 10-foot ficus trees to block what he called “ugly” houses, NPR reported.

Trump sued the City of Rancho Palos Verdes for $100 million in December 2008 for blocking his plans to build 20 luxury homes. It wasn’t until 2012 that a settlement was reached, Patch reported.

Permitting and structural interactions continued with the City of Rancho Palos Verdes. A pedestrian bridge on the property was observed by the city geologist to have cracks and temporarily closed while the Trump Organization evaluated, but it was reopened after geotechnical and structural evaluations determined that while “further erosion has occurred, the condition of the bridge has not changed since the last inspection in November 2015,” the website said.

More recently, the City of Palos Verdes approved permitting in 2019 for the temporary placement of a shipping container to be used for custom golf fitting, but after a resident appealed, the property withdrew the project.

As for the latest alleged violation at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles, the investigation remains “active” and no fine has been assessed, Whitten said.

Despite his legal challenges, Trump remains the likely Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, polling at nearly 60 percent in the GOP primary race as of Thursday.