The White House will present its ballroom plans to the National Capital Planning Commission at a meeting next month.
The “East Wing Modernization Project” was added to the tentative agenda for the commission’s Jan. 8 meeting. It said an information presentation will be given.
“An information presentation is often the first step of NCPC’s review of a project. No vote is taken, and no public testimony is accepted at this stage,” said a planning commission document. “This is an opportunity for the project applicant to present the project and for Commissioners to ask questions and provide general observations prior to formal review which we anticipate this spring. No project materials are submitted by the applicant for information presentations.”
The 12-member commission is chaired by Will Scharf, assistant to the president and White House staff secretary. He was appointed by President Trump.
The East Wing was demolished for Mr. Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom in October. The commission said it “does not review the demolition of buildings or general site preparation.”
“The National Capital Planning Act does not give the Commission authority over demolitions. Additionally, because NCPC only reviews the exteriors of buildings, below-grade improvements are not subject to NCPC review,” the document said.
The ballroom was originally said to have a price tag of $200 million, but earlier this month, the president said it could reach $400 million. The funds for the project are coming from wealthy friends of the president.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit to stop the construction of the ballroom until it goes through the proper review processes and gets approval from Congress.
A federal judge in Washington denied the trust’s request, saying it didn’t show enough to prove that irreparable harm had been done with the work that has already been started underground, but warned that no work should be done that would affect what the ballroom will look like aboveground.
The judge said that the plans must be submitted to the NCPC by the end of this month, which the White House had said it would do. It’s unclear if anything will happen now that the plans aren’t set to be submitted until Jan. 8.
Another court hearing is scheduled for mid-January.
