Paddlers can access Potomac when Trump visits his golf club

STERLING, Va. – Water sports enthusiasts will get more opportunities to paddle the Potomac River near the Trump National Golf Club in northern Virginia even when the president is visiting the property.

Lawyers for the federal government and the Canoe Cruisers Association of Greater Washington, D.C., said in court documents filed Friday that the Coast Guard now will allow a 250-yard-wide (229-meter-wide) lane for passing vessels near the river’s Maryland shore.

The canoe association last year sued over a 2017 Coast Guard decision to shut down the river near the golf club when President Donald Trump is on the property. The Coast Guard said the temporary security zone was for the president’s protection.

The canoe association countered that the Coast Guard didn’t follow rules giving the public an opportunity for input.