Drafter
Clerk 04/01/2011
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A MOTION responding to the 2011 Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 16984, Section 89, Proviso P3, exploring the feasibility of supporting the development of a regional, indoor tennis facility in partnership with Tennis Outreach Programs.
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WHEREAS, the metropolitan King County council adopted the 2011 Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 16984, and
WHEREAS, the council included a proviso in Ordinance 16984, Section 89, requesting the executive, by April 1, 2011, to transmit a motion with a corresponding report on the feasibility of supporting the development of a regional tennis facility in partnership with Tennis Outreach Programs ("TOPs"), and
WHEREAS, TOPs is a nonprofit organization organized under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and founded in 2003, whose mission is to enhance the lives of King County youth with an emphasis on low-income and at-risk youth by supporting their physical and mental health through affordable tennis, fitness and education, and
WHEREAS, TOPs has operated tennis and tutoring programs out of school gyms and community centers in Woodinville, Redmond and Kirkland since 2004, serving fourteen hundred underserved and at-risk youth, and
WHEREAS, due to limited indoor tennis court capacity within King County, TOPs is seeking to build and operate its own facility, and
WHEREAS, the estimated cost to build the regional, indoor tennis facility is $10,700,000. TOPs's project proposal includes funding the development of the facility through the issuance of tax-exempt bonds as well as raising private contributions by conducting a capital campaign, seeking donations and selling naming rights to the facility and courts, and
WHEREAS, TOPs is seeking to partner with King County to help finance the construction of the regional, indoor tennis facility by providing credit enhancement for tax-exempt bonds issued to finance the project. TOPs would be fully responsible for repayment of the debt and for operating the new facility, and
WHEREAS, the Washington state Housing Finance Commission determined that TOPs and its proposed tennis facility project are eligible for tax-exempt bond financing, and
WHEREAS, in February 2010, TOPs entered into a fifty-year lease agreement with two ten-year extensions with the city of SeaTac to develop, construct and operate a twelve-court, regional, indoor tennis facility and exterior landscaping using a four-acre portion of Valley Ridge park, and
WHEREAS, the TOPs project is consistent with adopted King County policies including the Equity and Social Justice Initiative and the King County Strategic Plan, which call for King County to partner with organizations and support prevention and early intervention programs for children and youth most at risk, and
WHEREAS, the metropolitan King County council has reviewed the feasibility report, which is Attachment A to this motion, exploring the feasibility of supporting the development of a regional, indoor tennis facility in partnership with TOPs and finds that the executive has responded to proviso;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
The council accepts the attached report, which satisfies the requirements of the 2011 Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 16984, Section 89, Proviso P3.