“This scheme does require a two-story colonnade, connecting … the East Room in the White House to the new ballroom,” said Baranes, who replaced the original White House ballroom designer, James McCrery. “We believe it’s appropriate to evaluate this condition within the context of the broader White House campus. The White House is therefore considering the idea of a modest, one-story addition to the West Wing colonnade, which would serve to restore a sense of symmetry around the original central pavilion.”

DEMOCRAT-BACKED NONPROFIT GROUP CITES ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS IN BID TO HALT WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION

The ballroom construction, also called the East Wing Modernization Project, was presented to the public as a 90,000-square-foot project. However, it has faced public criticism after images of the wing’s demolition spread on social media.

The proposed project will instead measure at 89,000 square feet in total, including the first lady’s offices and a movie theater. Roughly 22,000 square feet will be used for the ballroom and will hold approximately 1,000 people.

“Further consideration of enlarging the size was abandoned in late November,” Baranes told the commission.

The ballroom is also expected to be as tall as the main White House, a break with traditional norms that additional structures should be lower in height than the main building.

“The alignment of the cornice of the ballroom directly aligns with the cornice and the balustrade of the White House. The heights will match exactly,” Baranes said.

In his presentation to the commission, Fisher said it was not economical to renovate or modify the East Wing, making way for the $400 million ballroom.

“We found significant deficiencies and overall poor structural design and construction,” he said. “The Colonnade was structurally unstable. The roof systems had exceeded their service life, and the underpinnings were not sufficient to support the necessary upgrades. In the East Wing, there was chronic water intrusion, accelerated deterioration, and mold contamination. The electrical infrastructure was obsolete, deemed undersized, and noncompliant with current code.”

Commissioner Phil Mendelson, who serves as chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, questioned the White House as to why the project was not first presented to the NCPC before demolition, leading Will Scharf, chairman of the commission and White House staff secretary, to defend the administration.

“It’s long been the view of NCPC’s council’s office that the National Capital Planning Act does not give us authority to review demolition or site preparation work,” he said. “So while many projects do come before us at that stage, that’s not a requirement of the National Capital Planning Act, and review of demolition is not something that we have the authority to do as a commission.”

Scharf also said he saw the informational presentation as “the start of a process.”

“My objective from the start has been for the NCPC to play a productive role as this ballroom project moves ahead,” he added. “NCPC has, in our professional staff, an incredible amount of expertise and experience dealing with complex construction projects and monumental construction projects in the D.C. area, and I have great confidence that NCPC will be able to play a productive role in this project as well in the months ahead.”

Mendelson voiced concern about lowering the height of the ballroom.

“I do think that it sounds to me like the height could be lowered without jeopardizing the footprint,” he said. “I don’t think that the footprint that is … 89,000 square feet should be the goal in and of itself … It can be, and needs to be shrunk a little bit more.”

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW OF WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM WAS ‘DEFICIENT’

The White House is also considering beautifying other areas of Washington beyond the ballroom, according to Fisher.

“We have plans for beautifying visitors’ experience in the areas such as Lafayette Park and creating a superior, more efficient visitor security screening center,” he said. “In the coming weeks and months, both NPS and Secret Service will be submitting their plans on those two topics.”