In early December, as the Coop board was deciding to apply to the Maryland State Legislature for funding for the solar roof, a critical read of the store’s lease indicated it did not meet all the bond bill requirements. Negotiations were immediately initiated with the landlord to align the lease to the bond bill.
Agreement in principle was reached relatively quickly, allaying concerns, though signatures took a while to complete. The agreement is now fully signed-off and extends the lease as the state requires and specifically permits the array’s installation. It also confirms Co-op’s ownership of the array and the electricity it produces.
The bond bill requires a minimum of a 15-year lease to remain in force at the time of award if applicants in a rented space are funded for capital projects. Given the wording of the lease, which originated in a document penned in 1957, long before solar arrays made an appearance, there was language that caused some concerns about ownership. All these concerns are fully allayed in the addendum.
In a perfect world, all this would have been in place prior to the initial application to the legislature required in January – but time was short and so the application and the lease negotiation have proceeded on a parallel course.
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