Plan to Remake East Potomac Golf Course Reaches a Courtroom as a Judge Presses for Answers on a November 15 Closure
A federal judge in Washington questioned administration officials Friday about plans to close and rebuild the historic East Potomac Park golf course, after presidential posts said the park would close for 15 months while a championship-level course is built.
Hearings in lawsuits against two separate administration-backed projects unfolded Friday in a single federal court building in Washington, the Associated Press reported, including a challenge to the planned shutdown and reconfiguration of the historic public golf course at East Potomac Park, near the National Mall.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ordered Friday's hearing after a series of presidential social media posts, beginning October 18, indicated there were plans for the golf course and that construction was expected to begin November 15, the AP reported. The posts said the park would be closed for 15 months while work goes on. In earlier court hearings, officials from the Interior Department, the Justice Department and the National Park Service could not confirm the existence of the plans under questioning from Reyes, the AP reported.
The Justice Department filed notice on Wednesday night that the plans were real. The notice said the National Park Service would submit to the National Capital Planning Commission a rendering designed by Tom Fazio for a world-class, championship-level golf course capable of hosting major events, the AP reported. The golf course case was one of two in court Friday over the administration's efforts to remake federal areas of the capital; three courtrooms away, a judge heard the challenge to the proposed memorial arch along the Potomac, a case this station has covered separately.
