5746006 Resolution 21-248, 4095 Minnesota Avenue, N.E., Woodson School Lease Amendment Congressional Review Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015

A RESOLUTION

                                                        

21-248

 

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 4095 Minnesota Avenue, N.E., commonly known as the Woodson School and designated for tax and assessment purposes as Lot 0813 in Square 5078.       

 

            RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “4095 Minnesota Avenue, N.E., Woodson School Lease Amendment Congressional Review Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015”. 

 

Sec. 2. (a) On May 26, 2000, Friendship Public Charter School, Inc. (“Friendship PCS”) entered a lease agreement with the District to lease the property located at 4095 Minnesota Avenue N.E. (Lot 0813, Square 5078) for a period of twenty years.  In 2009, the lease was amended to extend it for an additional ten years, giving the lease a total duration of thirty years.  Friendship PCS seeks to amend the lease again to extend it for another ten years, for a total of forty years.  The amended lease would also include an option for a twenty-five year renewal.

(b)  On April 14, 2015, the Council of the District of Columbia approved Resolution 21-77, the Friendship Public Charter School, Inc. Revenue Bonds Project Approval Resolution of 2015.  Resolution 21-77 authorized and provided for the issuance, sale, and delivery of District revenue bonds to Friendship PCS in an amount not to exceed $70 million.  Having received this bond financing, Friendship PCS now requests an extension of its 4095 Minnesota Avenue, N.E. lease.

 (c) Additionally, on February 19, 2015, the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board (“PCSB”) voted to revoke the charter of Community Academy Public Charter School (“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 currently enrolled at CAPCS schools are 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 PCS agreed to take over the CAPCS campus located at 1351 Nicholson Street, N.W. (the “Nicholson Street Property”), as well as CAPCS’s Armstrong property, and is stepping in as an assignee of the lease CAPCS had with the District for the Nicholson Street Property.

(d) 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 Property.  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, most of which Friendship PCS acquired through Resolution 21-77, and closed on these consolidated bonds in September 2015.

(e)  A condition of Friendship PCS’s ability to close was the approval by the Council of the District of Columbia of the extension of Friendship PCS’s lease for the property at 4095 Minnesota Ave. N.E.  Friendship PCS was scheduled to close on their bond consolidation in late August/early September 2015.  Thus, on July 14, 2015, the Council passed the 4095 Minnesota Avenue, N.E., Woodson School Lease Emergency Amendment Act of 2015, effective August 11, 2015 (D.C. Act 21-152; 62 DCR 11446) (the “emergency legislation”).

(f)  On September 22, 2015, the Council passed the 4095 Minnesota Avenue, N.E., Woodson School Lease Amendment Act of 2015, enacted on October 16, 2015 (D.C. Act 21-170; 62 DCR 13752) (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)).

(g) The emergency legislation will expire on November 9, 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 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 4095 Minnesota Avenue, N.E., Woodson School Lease Amendment Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2015 be adopted after a single reading.

 

Sec. 4.  This resolution shall take effect immediately.