Following appeals by 13 parents with children in the Easter Seals’ day care program housed at the Falls Church City-owned Child Development Center Tuesday night, members of the Falls Church City Council stressed their desire for a amicable agreement to be worked out to provide for at least a short-term resolution to an extension of the rental agreement for the site.
The City issued a letter to Easter Seals last week stating that a renewal of the current agreement due to expire Nov. 11 will require payment of $120,000 annually in rent, as well as responsibility for on-going upkeep. F.C. City Manager Wyatt Shields said that the City is duty-bound to its taxpayers to derive “fair market value” for the property, even though an agreement since the 1950s has been in place that charges $1 a year for occupancy of the site, together with Easter Seals paying for upkeep.
