Trump appointees vote to address gaps in 'triumphal arch' plan in heated meeting

The staff said it needs "necessary elements for the commission to review."

The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), led by President Donald Trump’s hand-picked appointees, voted Thursday to approve a list of concerns about the president's proposed 250-foot “triumphal arch” raised by staff and to ask the administration to address them before final approval.

While the commission is led by Trump allies, the staff is not, and raised a number of issues about the project.

“I think the project team has some homework to do,” Will Scharf, Trump’s White House staff secretary who serves as the commission’s chair, said after a nearly three-hour-long hearing. Scharf added he wanted the administration to provide more illustrations on how the arch would look like from different observer points -- one of the staff’s recommendations.

After the hearing, Trump posted on his social media platform thanks to the commission for approving the arch, but that wasn't what the commission voted on.

But Scharf said during the hearing, "I'll note, for those present, that this is not our final review of the project. That will come at a later meeting."

Scharf addressed what he called "heckling" from the audience.

"I really don't appreciate the heckling, but I'll continue," he said.

One submission called the project “a glorified, unnecessary and frankly gross vanity project,” while another argued “a triumphal arch is totally inconsistent with the American character.”

The project “must respect those interred there, their descendants, current and future generations,” Langston told the panel. “I think, ‘What does this arch look like in another 250 years?’”

Langston, who largely expressed concerns about the proposed arch obstructing views of the cemetery, later added: “I think the most important piece of this is whatever is done there should be a unifying factor for the country, and at present there are elements of the design of the arch that I fear won't stand the test of time.”

Jimi Shaughnessy, a Marine veteran, said his great grandparents were also buried at Arlington and also panned the proposed arch.

Ahead of the hearing, the commission’s staff raised a list of issues it recommended that the panel ask the administration to address before it gives final approval for the structure. Among the staff’s concerns were safety for pedestrians, potential negative impacts on flight paths through the nearby Reagan National Airport and the obstruction of views of Arlington National Cemetery.

Jamie Herr, an urban planner for the commission, presented the staff’s recommendations