A new National Park Service report backs Donald Trumpās proposed arch, despite what it says are adverse effects to the sightlines of a host of landmarks in Washington, including the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.
The report released on Friday says the 250ft-tall (76-meter) memorial arch is likely to disrupt the historical significance of dozens of sites near its planned location adjacent to the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
Many of Washingtonās monuments, buildings and sites have been carefully planned over decades to reflect significant moments in the nationās history and to evoke symbolism through sightlines that connect them to other sites. The arch will disturb the sightline between more Washington landmarks than anticipated, the report said.
But the Park Service report says āthe same characteristics that make Memorial Circle sensitive from a preservation perspective are also the characteristics that make it the historically appropriate location for the undertakingā.
The projectās effects cannot be āfully avoided without either relocating the Arch away from the historically identified site or eliminating the principal commemorative feature, both of which would fail to meet the undertakingās purpose and needā, the report said.
āFor this reason, alternative locations outside Memorial Circle are not reasonable avoidance alternatives,ā the report said.
The 133-page report by the park service supports Trumpās plans for the arch and could play an important role in bolstering the administrationās case in its fight against a legal challenge filed by three veterans and a group of historians.
The proposed towering gilded arch, which last month received initial approval from a key federal commission, would affect the āintegrityā of dozens of historic properties because it would change ācharacter-defining visual and spatial relationshipsā among them.
One of the most obvious elements the report cited is that the arch would break alignment among the Lincoln Memorial, Memorial Bridge and Arlington House, which was the Confederate general Robert E Leeās home. That alignment was āintended to physically and symbolically unite North and South through a coordinated monumental composition extending across the Potomac Riverā, the report said.
The Lincoln Memorial-Arlington House connection was one of dozens listed as being affected directly by the proposed structure. It added that the National Mall, the US Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the Georgetown Historic District, the Old Naval Observatory, the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the National Cathedral and other sites also would be affected.
Nicolas Sansone, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group, which is representing the plaintiffs, said the report āconfirms what weāve been saying all along: the project will have an enormous impact and transform that National Mallā.
The report underscores the legal challengersā claim that a project of this size and importance āis a decision for Congress to makeā and should not be rushed through by executive decree, Sansone said.
