NCPC Keeps 250-Foot Trump Arch Alive as 1,700 Comments Mostly Oppose It
Updated
Updated · ARLnow · Jun 4
NCPC Keeps 250-Foot Trump Arch Alive as 1,700 Comments Mostly Oppose It
3 articles · Updated · ARLnow · Jun 4
Summary
The National Capital Planning Commission voted to keep reviewing Trump’s 250-foot triumphal arch, asking the Interior Department for more detail before deciding on the project planned between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
Commissioners said the applicant must justify the arch’s height and address possible effects on air navigation, traffic, parking, lighting, storm-water management and views from other Washington monuments.
About 1,700 public comments were submitted and roughly 20 people spoke at Thursday’s meeting, with most critics calling the monument oversized, disruptive to historic sightlines and an improper use of public money.
The design has already cleared the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, preliminary site testing began last month, and a separate lawsuit by veterans and a historian seeks to block construction over the Arlington-Lincoln sightline.
Trump has cast the arch as part of a broader Washington makeover tied to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with funding expected to mix taxpayer and private money while costs remain undisclosed.