WASHINGTON (AP) — Demolition to build President Donald Trump’s new ballroom off the East Wing of the White House can begin without approval of the commission tasked with vetting construction of federal buildings, the Trump-appointed head of the panel said Thursday.
Will Scharf, who is also the White House staff secretary, said during a public meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission that the board does not have jurisdiction over demolition or site preparation work for buildings on federal property.
“What we deal with is essentially construction, vertical build,” Scharf said. He called Trump’s promised ballroom “one of the most exciting construction projects in the modern history of” Washington.
He made the comments during the only public meeting of the commission scheduled before crews are expected to break ground on a $200 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom likely to greatly alter the look and size of both the White House's East and West Wings.
The planning commission is responsible for approving construction work and major renovations to government buildings in the Washington area. But Scharf made a distinction between demolition work and rebuilding, saying the commission was only required to vet the latter.
“I think any assertion that this commission should have been consulted earlier than it has been, or it will be, is simply false,” he said.
Scharf said the White House hadn't yet submitted building plans for the White House renovations but when that happens, “I’m excited for us to play a role in the ballroom project when the time is appropriate for us to do so.”
Asked after the meeting if the eventual approval process might delay work on the ballroom, Scharf said, “Demolition and site preparation work can certainly occur, but if you’re talking about actually building anything, then, yeah, it should go through our approval process.”
“Given the president’s history as a builder, and given the plans that we’ve seen publicly I think this will be a tremendous addition to the White House complex, a sorely needed addition,” Scharf said.
L. Preston Bryant Jr., who was appointed to chair the National Capital Planning Commission in 2009 by President Barack Obama and served in that role for nine years, said proposed projects typically worked in four major stages of commission approval that began “with an early consultation, where a project is very much conceptual.”
That hasn't been the case with Trump's promised ballroom.
“The White House and its design team would be very, very wise to involve NCPC and its staff very much on the front end of the project – in the early design stages – as it’ll make for a better project and help ensure it meets all regulatory and legal compliances,” Bryant said. “I cannot stress enough the value to be had at the conceptual and early consultation stages.”
Trump has been anxious to hustle toward work beginning on the ballroom, with an eye toward completing it prior to his leaving office in January 2029. A building mogul before he was a reality TV star and politician, has relished personally overseeing improvement projects at the White House and walked last month on the building’s roof with construction officials.
The ballroom will be the latest change introduced to what’s known as “The People’s House” since Trump returned to office in January, and the first structural change to the Executive Mansion itself since the Truman Balcony was added in 1948.
Trump already has substantially redecorated the Oval Office through the addition of golden flourishes and cherubs, presidential portraits and other items, and installed massive flagpoles on the north and south lawns to fly the American flag. The lawn in the Rose Garden was paved over with stone and patio tables reminiscent of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, complete with exterior speakers.
Scharf also used the meeting to argue that the Federal Reserve had flouted planning board jurisdiction while undertaking major renovations to its building. Trump has for months called on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to resign, and has specifically decried the long-planned building project for going well over budget.
The Fed has posted on its website that the designs for the original improvement plans to its building were previously approved by the planning commission, and that it “does not regard” subsequent changes made to the original plan as being major enough to warrant “further review.”
But Scharf said he’d be sending a letter to the Fed “noting my severe concerns” and accusing the central bank of arguing it essentially had the right to do “whatever the heck it wants on its property. They could build an amusement park on their property and no one would have any qualms.”
A Fed spokesperson declined to comment on Thursday.
Scharf said after the meeting of Fed officials, “I'm hopeful that they'll see the light of day and come back in and re-present their construction project as they should have up front.”
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