(WASHINGTON) — The Commission of Fine Arts voted on Thursday to approve the design plan for President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom.
The panel, made up entirely of new members appointed by Trump, did so near unanimously without further review over the “vast, vast majority” of public comments opposing the project.
Chairman Rodney Mims Cook Jr. moved to approve the plans as “final” after first voting to back the “concept” of the construction project.
One commissioner did not vote: James McCrery, the president’s White House architect who was sidelined on the ballroom project. McCrery recused himself and said it would be “inappropriate” for him to comment or vote on the plans.
The votes took place after Shalom Baranes, Trump’s new ballroom architect, presented updated design plans, with the most notable public change being the removal of a pediment on the proposed structure’s south side at the commission’s recommendation.
The commission fast-tracked the final vote, which was not set to happen on Thursday. The commission was set to review the project’s final design before taking their final vote, which would have been — at the earliest — during their next meeting scheduled for March 19.
Cook said the Pentagon “made some demands on the president” for greater security and that those secret design plans were integrated into the design.
More renderings of the proposed 90,000-square-foot addition in the location of the demolished East Wing were made available in a 31-page report submitted to commission last week, including a view of the building from Pennsylvania Avenue.
The votes to approve the proposal also came after Thomas Luebke, the panel’s secretary, presented the group with the public’s objection to the East Wing’s destruction last fall and the ballroom’s construction.
“Mind you, in more than two decades of case work here, for me, I’ve never seen as much public engagement on this,” Luebke said. “We literally have gotten, just in the past week or so, more than 2,000 various messages — way too much to go through individually.”
Luebke later added the messages were “overwhelmingly in opposition, over 99%, to this project.”
Luebke read excerpts from two public comments, one in favor and one against. The supporter of the ballroom argued that the addition was necessary to host formal events and “to have America be competitive in the eyes of world leaders.” The opposing commentator argued that the addition “represents an affront to our heritage, a circumvention of democratic processes and a misallocation of resources that could better serve the republic.”
Luebke said groups have also voiced opposition, including the National Mall Coalition, which said to the commission: “Please do not set a precedent that will be difficult, if not impossible, to overturn. We ask you to await the decision of the courts and not support further breach of public trust.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to stop the project. The judge in the case has expressed skepticism of the government’s arguments that the president has the power to build a ballroom with private donations and without express authorization from Congress, and said he hoped to issue a decision this month.
The ballroom is a longtime goal for Trump, who said in a social media post that it will be “one of the greatest and most beautiful Ballrooms anywhere in the world.” Trump said the project will cost $400 million and be paid for by private donors.
He applauded the commission’s approval in a social media post Thursday afternoon, saying “Great accolades were paid to the building’s beauty and scale. Thank you to the members of the Commission!”
The National Capital Planning Commission — led by Will Scharf, Trump’s White House staff secretary — will also consider the ballroom project during its March meeting.
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