Golf Course Preservation and Modernization

(a)

Findings

Congress finds the following: (1)Langston Golf Course, Rock Creek Golf Course, and East Potomac Golf Course are owned by the United States and are under the administrative jurisdiction of the National Park Service, and each golf course has a long history of service to the general public as an integral part of the Nation’s capital, including services to local and regional residents, visitors, and tourists. (2)Golf courses differ considerably from other lands administered by the National Park Service because they require a significant and continuing investment that cannot be required of a concessionaire. (3)East Potomac Golf Course opened in 1920 with three courses to accommodate all levels of play, including an 18-hole tournament-level course and two 9-hole practice courses, and was initially segregated, with African-Americans allowed to play on Mondays. (4)Rock Creek Golf Course opened in 1923 as a 9-hole course, and in 1925 the course was completed as an 18-hole tournament-level course. This course was located in Rock Creek Park, a major recreation and picnic facility for residents. (5)Langston Golf Course opened in 1939 as a golf facility for African-Americans and has been the home course of both the Royal Golf Club and the Wake Robin Golf Club, the Nation’s first golf clubs for African-American men and women, respectively. The golf course was named for John Mercer Langston, the first African-American Congressman from Virginia, elected in 1888. (6)Each of the three courses contains valuable historic components that must be maintained. (7)Langston Golf Course is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (8)Langston Golf Course is believed to be the first regulation course built in the United States almost entirely on a refuse landfill. (9)The first American-born golf professional of African-American ancestry was John Shippen, who was born in 1879 in the Anacostia area of Washington, DC, placed fifth in the second United States Open golf tournament in 1896 at 16 years of age, and helped found the Capitol City Golf Club in 1925. (10)The Capitol City Open golf tournament has made Langston Golf Course its home for the past 40 years. (11)The Capitol City Golf Club, renamed the Royal Golf Club and Wake Robin Women’s Club, has historically promoted a safe golf facility for African-Americans in Washington, DC, during an era of few available facilities, and these two clubs remain the oldest African-American golf clubs in the United States. (12)The Langston facility provides important recreational outlets, instructional forums, and a safe haven center for the enhancement of the lives of inner city youth and other residents in Washington, DC. (13)The Langston, Rock Creek, and East Potomac golf courses provide a home for the Nation’s important minority youth First Tee golf instruction and recreational program in Washington, DC. (14)The Langston, Rock Creek, and East Potomac golf courses have traditionally provided additional quality of life value to Washington, DC, and regional residents and visitors and the golf courses will reach their considerable potential once upgraded to meet their athletic and historical promise. (b)

Management of golf courses

(1)

Definitions

For the purposes of this section, the following apply: (A)

Rock Creek

The term Rock Creek means the federally owned golf course and related facilities located at 16th and Rittenhouse NW., Washington, DC 20011, within the boundaries of 16th Street, NW. to the East; Military Road, NW. to the South; Beach Drive NW. to the West; and Sherrill Drive, NW. to the North. (B)

Langston

The term Langston means the federally owned golf course and related facilities located at 26th and Benning Road NE., Washington, DC 20002, within the boundaries of Anacostia River to the East; Hickory Hill Road to the Northeast; Valley Road NE. to the Northeast; Azalea Road NE. to the North; Ellipse Road NE. to the West; M Street NE. to the North; Maryland Avenue NE. to the Northwest; 22nd Street NE. to the West; 26th Street to the West; and Benning Road NE. to the South. (C)

East Potomac

The term East Potomac means the federally owned golf course and related facilities located at 972 Ohio Drive SW., Washington, DC 20024, within the boundaries of Ohio Drive to the East, South, and West; and Buckeye Drive SW. to the North. (D)

Secretary

The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the National Park Service. (c)

Continued leases

The Secretary shall ensure, to the extent practicable, that month-to-month concessions contracts are continued for the operation and maintenance of Rock Creek and Langston until the lease in force on the date of the enactment of this Act for East Potomac expires, at which time the lease referred to in subsection (c) shall commence. (d)

Lease

The lease referred to in subsection (e) is a lease for the continued operation and maintenance of Rock Creek, Langston, and East Potomac as golf courses. A lease entered into under this section shall include the 3 golf courses in one lease agreement and require that the golf courses be operated and maintained in a manner that— (1)retains the historic nature of the courses including an appropriate commemoration of the Langston Golf Course’s historic place in African American golf history; (2)at least 2 of the 3 courses maintain fees related to use of the golf courses to be affordable in light of the current fee system used today at the courses; (3)may allow fees collected at one golf course to subsidize the maintenance and operation of one or more of the other golf courses; and (4)allows for a long-term ground lease on the 3 courses. (e)

Requests for proposals

The Secretary shall solicit proposals, through a competitive process, to procure the lease described in subsection (c) and may, after such solicitation, enter into agreements to procure the lease. The Secretary shall solicit the request for proposals under this subsection in such a manner— (1)to provide that the lease described in subsection (d) shall be entered into not later than 180 days after the effective date of this Act or not later than 30 days after the expiration of the concession contract for East Potomac; and (2)which ensures, to the greatest extent practicable, the participation of disadvantaged business enterprises among the equity partners of the sponsors of the proposals. (f)

Applicability of certain laws

The National Park Service Concessions Management Improvement Act of 1998 (16 U.S.C. 5951 et seq.) shall not apply to requests for proposals submitted and leases and agreements entered into under this section.