Trump arch dispute could upend Washington’s height limits

The proposed 250-foot United States Triumphal Arch at Memorial Circle on Columbia Island, at the west terminus of Arlington Memorial Bridge and directly across the Potomac from the Lincoln Memorial, was the focus of a National Capital Planning Commission meeting Thursday as the Interior Department argued Washington’s height limits do not apply to federal projects.

NCPC is the federal government’s planning agency for the National Capital Region and has 12 members. It is the second federal body to review the project after the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts gave the design final approval on May 21. In a four-page memo, the Interior Department’s Office of the Solicitor argued that the 1910 Height of Buildings Act is "just a local zoning ordinance" and does not bind the United States.

NCPC has understood since 1938 that the Height of Buildings Act applies to federal projects as well as private ones. The law caps most Washington buildings at 130 feet on commercial streets, 90 feet on residential streets and 160 feet on parts of Pennsylvania Avenue NW. District law exempts federal public buildings from the subchapter, but still requires NCPC approval of their location, height, bulk, number of stories, size and surrounding open space.

Before the June 4 NCPC meeting, the commission’s comment file had logged 1,696 comments on the New Monumental Arch proposal. On June 4, the commission voted 9-1 to advance concept plans and asked for more detail on air travel navigation, construction logistics, traffic, materials, placement, pedestrian safety and other design issues.

The arch would rise far above the Lincoln Memorial and the White House, though it would still sit below the Washington Monument. Trump has said he wants the arch to be the "biggest" of its kind and has tied it to the 250th anniversary of American independence.