The National Capital Planning Commission, which is led by allies of President Trump, approved the president’s $400 million White House ballroom project despite a deluge of negative comments from the public. But legal roadblocks remain after a federal judge ruled that Mr. Trump must get approval from Congress to proceed.
The planning board’s approval came just days after Judge Richard J. Leon of the Federal District Court in Washington, a George W. Bush appointee, ordered the project halted.
Will Scharf, the chair of the planning commission and the White House staff secretary, said the judge’s ruling should not affect the commission’s vote, or its desire to move ahead with the project.
Mr. Scharf, who often presents executive orders to the president for his signature, said he believed “this ballroom will be considered every bit as much of a national treasure as the other key components of the White House.”
“I believe that in time, the nation and successive presidents of both parties and all political stripes long into the future will be grateful to President Trump for having initiated and brought this project into being,” Mr. Scharf said.
Phil Mendelson, the Democratic chairman of the D.C. Council, voted no and criticized a “rushed process.”
“It’s just too large,” he said. “And if we can get the same program, but not as tall, not competing in height with the main structure and a condensed footprint, we are better for that.”
Before the vote, the White House submitted two significant changes to the project, including eliminating the stairs adjacent to the South Portico of the proposed ballroom and modifying the southwest corner stairs to include a switchback.
The board had been expected to vote to approve the project last month but delayed that vote after receiving about 32,000 mostly negative comments from across the country.
Judge Leon this week ruled in a lawsuit brought by historic preservationists that Mr. Trump must get approval from Congress before moving ahead with his planned ballroom.
“Unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!” the judge wrote in his ruling, which was punctuated by 19 exclamation points.
The Justice Department has filed a notice of appeal, and Mr. Trump has shown a reluctance to bring the project to Congress, where it would face an uncertain fate.
Instead, he has pointed to a portion of the judge’s ruling that allowed “construction necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House” to continue.
The president has begun arguing that the project is a matter of national security.
“We have bio defense all over,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office this week. “We have secure telecommunications and communications all over. We have bomb shelters that we’re building. We have a hospital and very major medical facilities that we’re building. We have all of these things. So that’s called, I’m allowed to continue building.”
Luke Broadwater covers the White House for The Times.
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