The National Capital Planning Commission, charged with overseeing federal construction projects, will host the first public meeting over President Donald Trump‘s controversial White House ballroom next month.
The White House will give a presentation on the East Wing modernization project to the NCPC during a meeting on Jan. 8, 2026. This marks the first time commissioners will be able to ask questions about the ballroom’s construction, which has faced public criticism after images of the demolition of the East Wing spread on social media.
However, there will not be public testimony at the meeting, according to the commission’s website. Instead, members of the public can submit “written comments to the Commission and testify before the Commission during its formal review of the project.”
The formal review of the ballroom is expected to take place in the spring.
“This is an opportunity for the project applicant to present the project and for Commissioners to ask questions and provide general observations prior to formal review which we anticipate this spring,” according to the commission. “No project materials are submitted by the applicant for information presentations.”
The 12-member commission, led by White House staff secretary Will Scharf, does not review the demolition of buildings because the National Capital Planning Act does not give the commission authority over demolitions.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon allowed the Trump administration to continue moving forward on the ballroom last week but ordered the White House to submit plans on the ballroom to the NCPC and the Commission of Fine Arts by the end of December after the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to block construction of the ballroom.
FORMER OBAMA AND CLINTON LAWYER REPRESENTING LAWSUIT OVER TRUMP’S BALLROOM
Construction on the ballroom began in October and is expected to be 90,000 square feet with an estimated budget of $300 million. Trump claims it will be financed by individual donors and large U.S. companies.
“The East Wing is being modernized from its 1902 and 1942 constructions to support the project and the future home of the East Wing,” a White House official previously told the Washington Examiner. “The scope and size of the project has always been subject to vary as the process developed.”
