The letter from Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia restates “serious concerns” raised in a Jan. 26 letter.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has yet to provide \u201cbasic details\u201d about its plans to redevelop the golf course in D.C.\u2019s East Potomac Park, senators from Maryland and Virginia said in a new letter seeking answers from the Interior Department and the National Park Service.<\/p>\n
The letter from Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, of Maryland, and Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, of Virginia, restates \u201cserious concerns\u201d raised in a Jan. 26 letter about the White House\u2019s move to terminate the lease held by National Links Trust, the nonprofit operating the District\u2019s three public golf courses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the interim, the Administration has continued to advance plans for these courses, including Secretary (Doug) Burgum\u2019s announcement on social media of a renovation design by Fazio Design for East Potomac Golf Links, without any disclosure to the public or to Congress of the scope, cost, or basis on which that engagement was awarded,\u201d their letter, dated July 8, said<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At a Senate hearing in April, the Interior secretary said he had not seen the January letter, but that his agency would respond. The Interior Department has not done so, the senators\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe absence of any reply is itself troubling, and recent developments have made our concerns considerably more urgent,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n Those developments include Trump\u2019s unannounced visit to East Potomac Park on June 28 with Burgum and representatives from Fazio Design. Trump and staffers were photographed holding designs that the senators said show \u201ca substantially increased project scope as compared to the initial design shared by Secretary Burgum<\/a>\u201d in May.<\/p>\n One design appeared to show the new golf course taking up the entire park peninsula, which the senators said would \u201cjeopardize some of East Potomac Park\u2019s most popular features, including the Hains Point bicycle trail, the miniature golf course, and historic cherry trees.\u201d<\/p>\n