NCPC Approves Donald Trump's White House Ballroom
As expected, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) overwhelmingly approved plans for the new State Ballroom at the East Wing of the White House. Only one dissenting vote was cast in a meeting that took place two days after a judge ordered construction of the 89,000-square-foot building to halt.
The vote on what is being called the East Wing Modernization Project was the first order of business in today's NCPC meeting, which began with something of a surprise: an amendment to the design by Washington, DC architect Shalom Baranes as submitted last month. Following from an article in the New York Times, “Trump’s Ballroom Design Has Barely Been Scrutinized,” a grand stair at the south end of the ballroom was subsequently removed, since it did not actually deliver people to the ballroom, and an adjacent stair was changed to a switchback, so it leads to the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden rather than the South Lawn. These elements were revealed by Trump to the press on board Air Force One on Sunday, just one day after the Times article. The revisions reveal that the design of the ballroom is far from final—perhaps even that it has been rushed—and has not received enough critical feedback given the scope of the project and the stamp it will leave on the overall White House.
Phil Mendelson, chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, one of the twelve NCPC commissioners, and the one dissenting vote in today's meeting, pointed out that more time and scrutiny was given the design of a new fence at the White House during Trump's first term than has been afforded the commission and the public for the ballroom: two years versus three months. To Mendelson, the amendment to the ballroom design “speaks volumes” to an “iterative process that was fixed” because the East Wing was demolished before plans were submitted. That revisions could be made so swiftly to address specific critiques, Mendelson contended, then more improvements could feasibly be made to the design, namely making it smaller (the ballroom itself is 40 feet tall) and more compatible with the existing White House and its grounds. While one other commissioner, Linda Argo, agreed with Mendelson's comments, the final vote was 8-1 in favor of the amended plans, with two commissioners voting present and one absent.
As mentioned above, today's NCPC vote took place two days after Judge Richard J. Leon's ruled that construction of the ballroom needs to stop until the proper Congressional approvals are granted. While the judge's ruling did not impact the NCPC vote, as expressed early in the meeting by chair William Scharf, one of a number of Trump appointees to the commission, the ruling sours what should have been a celebration for Trump, given that today's vote was the last formal approval needed for the project. Judge Leon's ruling, while it does provide two weeks for Trump's lawyers to appeal, asserts that Congress needs to approve the project for construction to resume. If Trump will actually take that path remains to be seen.