A National Park Service report released Friday backs President 
Donald Trump's proposed 250-foot memorial arch despite finding it would disrupt sightlines between Washington landmarks including the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. The 133-page report says the arch, planned for a site adjacent to Memorial Bridge, is likely to disrupt the historical significance of dozens of nearby sites, PBS NewsHour reported. It found the structure would disturb the sightline between more iconic landmarks than anticipated.
What did the report find? Among the most obvious elements the Park Service cited, in PBS NewsHour's account, is that the arch would break an alignment between the Lincoln Memorial, Memorial Bridge and Arlington House, the former home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. That alignment was "intended to physically and symbolically unite North and South through a coordinated monumental composition extending across the Potomac River," the report said. The National Mall, the U.S. Capitol, the Georgetown Historic District, Key Bridge and the National Cathedral were among other sites it listed as affected.
Why does it still back the location? "The same characteristics that make Memorial Circle sensitive from a preservation perspective are also the characteristics that make it the historically appropriate location for the undertaking," the report said. Its effects cannot be "fully avoided without either relocating the Arch away from the historically identified site or eliminating the principal commemorative feature," it added, concluding that "alternative locations outside Memorial Circle are not reasonable avoidance alternatives."
Who is challenging the project? Three veterans and an architectural historian have filed a legal challenge, and the report could play an important role in bolstering the administration's case against it, PBS NewsHour reported. Nicolas Sansone, a Public Citizen Litigation Group attorney representing the plaintiffs, said Friday the report "confirms what we've been saying all along: the project will have an enormous impact and transform the National Mall." He said it underscores the challengers' claim that a project of this size and importance "is a decision for Congress to make" and should not be rushed through by executive decree.
What approvals has it received? The design, proposed by Trump, already has early approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose commissioners were all appointed by Trump. The National Capital Area Planning Commission approved the site and preliminary plans at its July meeting and is expected to take up the matter again this fall.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
