Vietnam Wall Visitor Center Approved

Among the other requirements: The center must have a single entrance for both visitors and service personnel, and the lighting must be subtle. The footprint of the center must be within the root areas of the existing elms, and no new parking can be constructed to accommodate the visitors.

The center will cost $100 million, of which the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund has raised $25 million. The sponsors expect to have a design selected by the end of this year and plan to get final approval for construction early next year.

Some preservationists worried that the requirements will be circumvented because of political pressure.

"This project is embroiled in politics," said Judy Scott Feldman, chairman of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall. She said there is a danger that the guidelines "are meaningless and unenforceable."

The campaign for the visitor center was fueled by the same kind of passion that Scruggs brought to win creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a subtle tribute dedicated in 1982 that consists of simple granite panels containing the names of the dead and missing. Some Americans had trouble conceptualizing a nontraditional memorial without trappings such as statues and fountains. But it is now the most popular site on the Mall, with 3.8 million visitors last year.

This time, Scruggs had congressional help. Legislation was passed in 2003 that made the center an exception to the 2001 creation of the Mall's "reserve" area, where new construction is banned.

The legislation did not specify a site, however, and Scruggs knew he wanted it front and center. The rigorous site selection process that sent him to several federal agencies dictated that his group study other sites on less prominent pieces of land.

Scruggs was so determined to get the site he wanted that he hired an urban anthropologist from Howard University to generate an 11-page analysis of the phrase "at or near" to make his point that the legislation said the center should be "at or near the Wall."

When that wasn't enough to eliminate the other study sites, he took his case to Congress. A representative introduced a bill to the House in March that pinpointed the site he wanted. It passed by a vote of 404 to 4 and is lingering before the Senate.

Senate approval would mean little, now that the planning commission has approved the site. As part of its review, the commission examined an environmental assessment report that determined that the center would have a minimal impact on the area.