DC planning authorities to vote on Trump’s White House ballroom project

Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project is likely ‌to get a blessing from Washington planning authorities on Thursday, two days after a judge ruled work cannot proceed without Congress’s approval.

The National Capital Planning Commission, which ​is chaired by one of Trump’s former lawyers, will deliberate and ​then vote on the “East Wing Modernization Project” on Thursday, ⁠according to a meeting agenda.

The Republican president says the $400m, 90,000 sq ft (8,400 sq meter) ballroom ​will be a privately financed defining addition to the White House and ​a lasting symbol of his presidency.

The ballroom is part of Trump’s broader push to reshape Washington’s monumental core, which also includes plans for a 250ft (76 meter) arch and a ​multiyear renovation of the Kennedy Center performing arts complex. He has ​also ripped out and replaced the White House Rose Garden and added a wide ‌array ⁠of gilding to the Oval Office.

The commission is one of two federal bodies, along with the US Commission of Fine Arts, assigned a role in overseeing key DC-area building projects.

Trump picked several members of both groups, ​and his former ​personal lawyer, Will ⁠Scharf, chairs the National Capital Planning Commission.

The justice department appealed Tuesday’s ruling that the president cannot construct ​his planned ballroom on the site of the White ​House’s demolished ⁠East Wing without approval from Congress.

The federal judge in the case granted a request for a preliminary injunction by the National Trust for Historic ⁠Preservation, a ​non-profit organization that brought a lawsuit alleging Trump ​exceeded his authority when he razed the historic East Wing and launched construction on the ​new building.