Trump arch moves ahead — but monument loses eight feet and four lions
By Sunlen Serfaty, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s quest to have the tallest arch in the world took one step closer to being realized on Thursday after a key agency approved a revised design of the structure.
However, the overall height of the monument will be lower than previously proposed.
While the arch remains 250 feet tall in the revised design, the overall height of the structure shrank with the removal of an eight-foot-tall base that had been included in a previous version presented to the Commission of Fine Arts, an agency that advises the president and Congress on design plans for monuments, memorials, coins and federal buildings.
Four gold lions that had previously adorned the side of the arch along the base have also been removed – a change the CFA had pushed for given that lions are “not native to the United States.”
When the elevation off the ground is included, the previous plan would have brought the total height of the monument to over 280 feet. Now it’s more than 270 feet.
The approval came despite an overwhelmingly negative public response to the project and was rammed through “at unprecedented speed, except for the White House ballroom,” a source with knowledge of the process said.
Trump welcomed news the project had been approved by the commission, telling reporters it was “beautiful.”
The committee, to which the president has appointed a slew of loyalists, had already approved a preliminary set of designs for the arch.
In the iteration passed during the commission’s meeting Thursday, granite – and not Trump’s favorite material, marble, which had also been under consideration – will be used for the exterior owing to its strength and durability.
At the same time, the depth of the arch has widened in the new designs.
Mary Anne Carter, one of the CFA panel members, said she appreciated the removal of the embellishments in the new design as it would better bridge the aesthetic between the arch and the somber markers of Arlington National Cemetery on the other side.
Concerns previously raised by James McCrery, the architect Trump originally hired to build a new ballroom at the White House and now member of the CFA, over the tall, winged Lady Liberty figure that tops the arch were fiercely downplayed by the administration.
The president looked at the commission’s request to change the sculptural figures, “but elected not to pursue such an option while respectfully noting the differences of aesthetic opinion that may exist on the subject,” the administration, represented by an official from the Interior department, said.
The Triumphal arch, modeled after Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, is one of numerous personal endeavors that Trump has put forward in his effort to remake the style of the capital city. The long list of other changes includes the East Wing ballroom; a sculpture garden of American Heroes along the Potomac river; rechristening the Kennedy Center to include his name; building a golf course and changing the color of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool – a project that will face a court challenge later on Thursday.
The arch is planned for the traffic circle between the Arlington National Cemetery’s entrance and the Lincoln Memorial and was envisioned to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary in July.
As during previous meetings of the commission, members of the public who were given a chance to speak, including professional preservationists, historians and civic groups, gave withering assessments of the project.
Location, height, design and lack of proper approval process were all concerns, they said. Since last collection of public comment, the CFA has received 600 new public comments. Of those, 99.5% were negative, the committee admitted.
The arch has also raised safety concerns over its potential to interfere with air traffic, as it would be situated less than two miles from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, one of the busiest in the nation, and add to numerous obstacles already making the crowded airspace tricky to navigate.
CNN previously reported that the Department of Interior has requested a formal aeronautical study from the Federal Aviation Administration to determine if the arch is a hazard to flights, which was also brought up as a concern by a member of the public.
It must next win approval from the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), another federal committee that has similarly been stacked with loyalists.
The arch is facing a legal challenge from a Vietnam War veterans’ group related to its scale and obstruction of the view of the Arlington National Cemetery and has drawn criticism from historians and preservationists.
The group argues that the project will need Congressional approval to move forward.
However, the administration has said it plans to use an obscure century-old authorization to bypass getting Congressional permission.
On Thursday, Trump told reporters he did not need Congress to sign off on it, saying, “We’re doing it, it’s, the land is owned … by the Interior Department, we don’t need anything from Congress.”
The administration has already begun some initial assessment work at the site of the planned arch. Last week CNN observed construction crews with a rig drilling into the ground.
The Department of Interior said the move was part of “statutorily required” work ahead of a formal approval for the project.
“Site surveys, such as geotechnical work, have started in Memorial Circle which is statutorily required. This is standard practice to test the grounds and soil. The ongoing geotechnical and site survey work are required before providing a final proposal,” a department spokesperson told CNN.
This story has been updated with additional information.
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified how the color of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is being changed.
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