5745812 Resolution 21-247, 1351 Nicholson Street, N.W., Old Brightwood School Lease Amendment Congressional Review Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015

A RESOLUTION

                                                        

21-247

 

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

November 3, 2015         

 

                                                                                                                                             

To declare the existence of an emergency, due to congressional review, with respect to the

            need to authorize the disposition by lease of District-owned real property located at 1351 Nicholson Street, N.W., commonly known as the Old Brightwood School and designated for tax and assessment purposes as Lot 0846 in Square 2794.       

 

            RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “1351 Nicholson Street, N.W., Old Brightwood School Lease Amendment Congressional Review Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015”. 

 

Sec. 2. (a) On March 1, 2001, the Community Academy Public Charter School (“CAPCS”) entered into a lease agreement with the District to lease the property located at 1351 Nicholson Street, N.W. (Lot 0846, Square 2794), which is improved by the Old Brightwood School, for a period of twenty years.

(b) On February 19, 2015, the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board (“PCSB”) voted to revoke the charter of CAPCS at the end of the 2014-2015 school year, with the revocation effective as of July 1, 2015.  In order to ensure that the students enrolled at CAPCS schools were not displaced, PCSB and the Deputy Mayor for Education worked to identify other entities that would be willing and able to assume control over the various CAPCS campuses.  Friendship Public Charter School, Inc. (“Friendship PCS”) agreed to take over the CAPCS campus located at 1351 Nicholson Street, N.W. (the “Nicholson Street Property”) and stepped in as an assignee of the lease CAPCS had with the District.

(c) In assuming the lease for the Nicholson Street Property from CAPCS, Friendship PCS agreed to shoulder responsibility for a $22 million bond that CAPCS originally had for the online campus located at the Nicholson Street campus.  This bond was set to default on June 30, 2015 due to CAPCS’s charter being revoked and its inability to pay for the bond.  In accepting responsibility for this $22 million bond, Friendship PCS combined the $22 million bond with its current bond assets and closed on these consolidated bonds in September 2015. 

(d) A condition of Friendship PCS’s ability to close was the approval by the Council of the District of Columbia of Friendship PCS’s assumption of the Nicholson Street Property lease from CAPCS.  Friendship PCS was scheduled to close on its bond consolidation in late August/early September 2015.  Thus, on July 14, 2015, the Council passed the 1351 Nicholson Street, N.W., Old Brightwood School Lease Emergency Amendment Act of 2015, effective July 31, 2015 (D.C. Act 21-136; 62 DCR 10874) (the “emergency legislation”). 

(e) On September 22, 2015, the Council passed the 1351 Nicholson Street, N.W., Old Brightwood School Lease Amendment Act of 2015, enacted on October 16, 2015 (D.C. Act 21-169; 62 DCR 13750) (the “permanent legislation”).  On October 23, 2015, the permanent legislation was transmitted to Congress for the 30-day review period required by section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(1)).

(f) The emergency legislation expired on October 29, 2015; however the permanent legislation is not expected to become law until December 21, 2015.  A congressional review emergency is necessary to ensure that the provisions of the emergency legislation continue in effect, without further interruption, until the permanent legislation becomes law.

 

Sec. 3.  The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the 1351 Nicholson Street, N.W., Old Brightwood School Lease Amendment Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2015 be adopted after a single reading.

 

Sec. 4.  This resolution shall take effect immediately.