Opinion ID: 2194614
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 1993 Lease

Text: In 1982, the District of Columbia and NCI signed a Cooperative Agreement which authorized NCI to develop and operate a children's theme park on Heritage Island and a portion of Kingman Island (the Islands), a forty-five acre site in the Anacostia River. Many years later, the District of Columbia entered into a Lease and Amended and Restated Cooperative Agreement with NCI and IDC to develop a cultural, educational, and family-oriented recreation park on the same site. This document, dated April 30, 1993, is the subject of this lawsuit and will be referred to as the Lease or the 1993 Lease. According to the Lease, IDC is the designated sublessee of National Children's Island, Inc., responsible for the construction, development, and operation of the recreational park (the Project). By its terms, the Lease would not become effective unless two events occurred by September 1, 1993. First, the Council of the District of Columbia had to approve it. Second, because the Islands were owned by the United States of America, the National Park Service needed to transfer jurisdiction over them to the District of Columbia pursuant to 40 U.S.C. §§ 122, 123 (1988), presently codified at 40 U.S.C. § 8124 (2007). [1] These statutory provisions authorize the District of Columbia and the federal government to transfer to each other jurisdiction over property within the District of Columbia owned by one of them. Id. However, they allow transfer of jurisdiction for purposes of administration and maintenance only; the statutes do not provide for the transfer of title or the rights of development. Id.