[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1508 Reported in Senate (RS)]





                                                       Calendar No. 469

104th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 1508

                          [Report No. 104-294]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

To require the transfer of title to the District of Columbia of certain 
   real property in Anacostia Park to facilitate the construction of 
    National Children's Island, a cultural, educational, and family-
                             oriented park.

_______________________________________________________________________

                             June 26, 1996

                       Reported without amendment





                                                       Calendar No. 469
104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 1508

                          [Report No. 104-294]


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 31, 1995

  Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental 
                                Affairs

                             June 26, 1996

               Reported by Mr. Stevens, without amendment

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To require the transfer of title to the District of Columbia of certain 
   real property in Anacostia Park to facilitate the construction of 
    National Children's Island, a cultural, educational, and family-
                             oriented park.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Children's Island Act of 
1995''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act:
            (1) The term ``plat'' means the plat filed in the Office of 
        the Surveyor of the District of Columbia under S.O. 92-252.
            (2) The term ``District'' means the District of Columbia.
            (3) The term ``Islands'' means Heritage Island and all of 
        that portion of Kingman Island located south of Benning Road 
        and within the District of Columbia and the Anacostia River, 
        being a portion of United States Reservation 343, Section F, as 
        specified and legally described on the Survey.
            (4) The term ``National Children's Island'' means a 
        cultural, educational, and family-oriented recreation park, 
        together with a children's playground, to be developed and 
        operated in accordance with the Children's Island Development 
        Plan Act of 1993, D.C. Act 10-110.
            (5) The term ``playground'' means the children's playground 
        that is part of National Children's Island and includes all 
        lands on the Islands located south of East Capitol Street.
            (6) The term ``recreation park'' means the cultural, 
        educational, and family-oriented recreation park that is part 
        of National Children's Island.
            (7) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the 
        Interior.
            (8) The term ``Survey'' means the ALTA/ACSM Land Title 
        Survey prepared by Dewberry & Davis and dated February 12, 
        1994.

SEC. 3. PROPERTY TRANSFER.

    (a) Transfer of Title.--In order to facilitate the construction, 
development, and operation of National Children's Island, the Secretary 
shall, not later than six months after the date of enactment of this 
Act and subject to this Act, transfer by quitclaim deed, without 
consideration, to the District all right, title, and interest of the 
United States in and to the Islands. Unbudgeted actual costs incurred 
by the Secretary for such transfer shall be borne by the District. The 
District may seek reimbursement from any third party for such costs.
    (b) Grant of Easements.--(1) The Secretary shall, not later than 
six months after the date of enactment of this Act, grant, without 
consideration, to the District, permanent easements across the 
waterways and bed of the Anacostia River as described in the Survey as 
Leased Riverbed Areas A, B, C, and D, and across the shoreline of the 
Anacostia River as depicted on the plat map recorded in the Office of 
the Surveyor of the District as S.O. 92-252.
    (2) Easements granted under paragraph (1) shall run with the land 
and shall be for the purposes of--
            (A) constructing, reconstructing, maintaining, operating, 
        and otherwise using only such bridges, roads, and other 
        improvements as are necessary or desirable for vehicular and 
        pedestrian egress and ingress to and from the Islands and which 
        satisfy the District Building Code and applicable safety 
        requirements;
            (B) installing, reinstalling, maintaining, and operating 
        utility transmission corridors, including (but not limited to) 
        all necessary electricity, water, sewer, gas, necessary or 
        desirable for the construction, reconstruction, maintenance, 
        and operation of the Islands and any and all improvements 
        located thereon from time to time; and
            (C) constructing, reconstructing, maintaining, operating, 
        and otherwise providing necessary informational kiosk, 
        ticketing booth, and security for the Islands.
    (3) Easements granted under paragraph (1) shall be assignable by 
the District to any lessee, sublessee, or operator, or any combination 
thereof, of the Islands.
    (c) Development.--The development of National Children's Island 
shall proceed as specified in paragraph 3 of the legend on the plat or 
as otherwise authorized by the District by agreement, lease, 
resolution, appropriate executive action, or otherwise.
    (d) Reversion.--(1) The transfer under subsection (a) and the grant 
of easements under subsection (b) shall be subject to the condition 
that the Islands only be used for the purposes of National Children's 
Island. Title in the property transferred under subsection (a) and the 
easements granted under subsection (b), shall revert to the United 
States 60 days after the date on which the Secretary provides written 
notice of the reversion to the District based on the Secretary's 
determination, which shall be made in accordance with chapter 5 of 
title 5, United States Code (relating to administrative procedures), 
that one of the following has occurred:
            (A) Failure to commence improvements in the recreational 
        park within the earlier of--
                    (i) three years after building permits are obtained 
                for construction of such improvements; or
                    (ii) four years after title has been transferred, 
                as provided in subsection (a).
            (B) Failure to commence operation of the recreation park 
        within the earlier of--
                    (i) five years after building permits are obtained 
                for construction of such improvements; or
                    (ii) seven years after title has been transferred, 
                as provided in subsection (a).
            (C) After completion of construction and commencement of 
        operation, the abandonment or non-use of the recreation park 
        for a period of two years.
            (D) After completion of construction and commencement of 
        operation, conversion of the Islands to a use other than that 
        specified in this Act or conversion to a parking use not in 
        accordance with section 4(b).
    (2) The periods referred to in paragraph (1) shall be extended 
during the pendency of any lawsuit which seeks to enjoin the 
development or operation of National Children's Island or the 
administrative process leading to such development or operation.
    (3) Following any reconveyance or reversion to the National Park 
Service, any and all claims and judgments arising during the period the 
District holds title to the Islands, the playground, and premises shall 
remain the responsibility of the District, and such reconveyance or 
reversion shall extinguish any and all leases, rights or privileges to 
the Islands and the playground granted by the District.
    (4) The District shall require any nongovernmental entity 
authorized to construct, develop, and operate National Children's 
Island to establish an escrow fund, post a surety bond, provide a 
letter of credit or otherwise provide such security for the benefit of 
the National Park Service, substantially equivalent to that specified 
in paragraph 11 of the legend on the plat, to serve as the sole source 
of funding for restoration of the recreation park to a condition 
suitable for National Park Service purposes (namely, the removal of all 
buildings and grading, seeding and landscaping of the recreation park) 
upon reversion of the property. If, on the date which is two years from 
the date of reversion of the property, the National Park Service has 
not commenced restoration or is not diligently proceeding with such 
restoration, any amount in the escrow fund shall be distributed to such 
nongovernmental entity.

SEC. 4. PROVISIONS RELATING TO LANDS TRANSFERRED AND EASEMENTS GRANTED.

    (a) Playground.--Operation of the recreation park may only commence 
simultaneously with or subsequent to improvement and opening of a 
children's playground at National Children's Island that is available 
to the public free of charge. The playground shall only include 
those improvements traditionally or ordinarily included in a publicly 
maintained children's playground. Operation of the recreation park is 
at all times dependent on the continued maintenance of the children's 
playground.
    (b) Public Parking.--Public parking on the Islands is prohibited, 
except for handicapped parking, emergency and government vehicles, and 
parking related to constructing, and servicing National Children's 
Island.
    (c) Required Approvals.--Before construction commences, the final 
design plans for the recreation park and playground, and all related 
structures, including bridges and roads, are subject to the review and 
approval of the National Capital Planning Commission and of the 
District of Columbia in accordance with the Children's Island 
Development Plan Act of 1993 (D.C. Act 10-110). The District of 
Columbia shall carry out its review of this project in full compliance 
with all applicable provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969.

SEC. 5. EFFECT OF PROPERTY TRANSFER.

    (a) Effect of Property Transfer.--Upon the transfer of the Islands 
to the District pursuant to this Act:
            (1) The Transfer of Jurisdiction concerning the Islands 
        from the National Park Service to the District dated February 
        1993, as set out on the plat map recorded in the Office of the 
        Surveyor of the District as S.O. 92-252 and as approved by the 
        Council of the District by Resolution 10-91, shall become null 
        and void and of no further force and effect, except for the 
        references in this Act to paragraphs 3 and 11 of the legend on 
        the plat.
            (2) The Islands shall no longer be considered to be part of 
        Anacostia Park and shall not be considered to be within the 
        park system of the District; therefore, the provisions of 
        section 2 of the Act entitled ``An Act to vest in the 
        Commissioners of the District of Columbia control of street 
        parking in said District'', approved July 1, 1898 (ch. 543, 30 
        Stat. 570; D.C. Code 8-104), shall not apply to the Islands, 
        and the District shall have exclusive charge and control over 
        the Islands and easements transferred.
            (3) The Islands shall cease to be a reservation, park, or 
        public grounds of the United States for the purposes of the Act 
        of August 24, 1912 (ch. 355, 37 Stat. 444; 40 U.S.C. 68; 8-128 
        D.C. Code).
    (b) Use of Certain Lands for Parking and Other Purposes.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the District is hereby 
authorized to grant via appropriate instrument to a nongovernmental 
individual or entity any and all of its rights to use the lands 
currently being leased by the United States to the District pursuant to 
the District of Columbia Stadium Act of 1957 (Public Law 85-300, 
September 7, 1957, 71 Stat. 619) for parking facilities (and necessary 
informational kiosk, ticketing booth, and security) as the Mayor of the 
District in his discretion may determine necessary or appropriate in 
connection with or in support of National Children's Island.

SEC. 6. SAVINGS PROVISIONS.

    No provision of this Act shall be construed--
            (1) as an express or implied endorsement or approval by the 
        Congress of any such construction, development, or operation of 
        National Children's Island;
            (2) except as provided in section 5, to exempt the 
        recreational park and playground from the laws of the United 
        States or the District, including laws relating to the 
        environment, health, and safety; or
            (3) to prevent additional conditions on the National 
        Children's Island development or operation to mitigate adverse 
        impacts on adjacent residential neighborhoods and park lands 
        and the Anacostia River.