President Donald Trump’s plans to build a skyline-altering arch in the nation’s capital won initial approval Thursday from a key federal commission, but its members put off a decision on whether a federal law that limits building heights should be applied to this project.
The National Capital Planning Commission voted, despite overwhelming public opposition, to approve preliminary site and building plans for the 250-foot (76-meter) arch the Republican president wants to build on a traffic circle at the Virginia end of the Memorial Bridge from Washington.
Staff had recommended in its report on the project that the commission grant preliminary approval and request a series of changes so the arch would comply with the Height of Buildings Act. The suggested changes included redistributing the heights among the main structure of the arch, the habitable roof, where an observation deck is planned, and the statues that would top it.
But commissioners, led by chairman Will Scharf, voted to continue deliberating whether the law indeed applies.
The staff report said the commission has long applied the law in its approval process. Scharf said the applicant, which is the Interior Department, had, as requested, provided a legal analysis that he said makes a “compelling argument” that the law “is not binding on the federal government.” The Interior Department oversees the federal land where the arch would be built.
“My view is that, today, we are just considering this project for preliminary approval and that, as a result, it’s not necessary for us to take up this broader issue of the applicability of the Height of Buildings Act to federal construction until our next meeting at the earliest,” Scharf said.
Eight of the 12 commissioners, including Scharf and two others appointed by Trump, voted for preliminary approval. One was against, and the remaining three commissioners voted present.
“This is a complex project,” Scharf said before the vote. He said a vote on final approval could come at the agency’s next meeting, in September.
All 12 commissioners listened to a summary of the staff report and its recommendations, and heard from several dozen people who had signed up to testify about the project, one of a handful being pursued by Trump in his quest to reshape to reshape parts of the nation’s capital to his liking.
As the commissioners met, construction continued at the White House on a $400 million ballroom Trump is building there and crews draped tarps over the stone columns at the north entrance to the mansion, where work is being done to scrape off layers of paint.
Some of those who testified against Trump’s project said they opposed building a celebratory arch so close to the solemn burial ground of Arlington National Cemetery.
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a separate federal agency, approved the design for the arch in May. The National Capital Planning Commission oversees construction on federal land in the city and began reviewing the arch plan in June.
Opponents argue that the arch is too big for the skyline and would disrupt carefully designed views between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery that were meant to symbolize the reunification of the North and the South after the Civil War.
But the opposition so far has done little to influence the members of either commission, both of which include some of Trump’s closest allies. Trump appointed Scharf, a top White House aide, to lead the planning commission.
A group of veterans and a historian have sued the Trump administration in federal court to block the arch construction over concerns about disruptions to the sightline.
The arch would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99 feet (30 meters) tall, and close to half the height of the Washington Monument, at about 555 feet (169 meters) tall.
Trump had said last year that the arch could be paid for with unused funds from the hundreds of millions of dollars he said he has raised from corporations, donors and other wealthy people to pay to build a new $400 million ballroom at the White House.
But, as it turns out, some public money will be used for the ballroom project, as well as the arch. The White House has not released a cost estimate for the arch.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.