Memorial Day Ceremony
Monday, May 27th - 11:00 a.m.
Great Falls Library
The Great Falls Freedom Memorial Committee will hold its annual Memorial Day Ceremony at the site of the Freedom Memorial, behind the Great Falls Library at 9830 Georgetown Pike.

The event will include patriotic songs, remarks by retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Norman H. Smith, and a reading of the names and bell ringing for each of the 25 residents of Great Falls who have fallen in service to our Nation. The proceedings will conclude with a wreath laying by local dignitaries and raising of the flags by Boy Scout Troop 55. This ceremony is open to all and ample parking is available in the Library parking lot. In case of rain, the ceremony will move into the Library’s meeting room. Point of contact: Bruce Fein 703-248-0390

GFCA Town Meeting
• GFCA Nomination Committee Presents Slate
for Officers and Executive Board, click here
• Great Falls Exxon Oil Spill - Get the Facts . . .
The Environment, Parks and Trails Committee hosted the May 14th meeting to discuss the gasoline leak at the former Exxon gas station. This leak was revealed during a routine site survey several years ago. Although some immediate steps were taken to stop the leak, the actual remediation and clean-up of spilled gasoline has not been addressed yet.

Kurt Kochan, Remediation Specialist, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, spoke with the community about what actions have been taken, what still needs to be done, who is responsible, what plans are in place to complete the remediation, and the impacts, if any, to local residents and ground water. Carol Stone, a fractured limestone bedrock and water quality specialist from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, explained simple steps that residents can take to ensure a safer home and community water supply. To view Mr. Kochan's presentation, click here

Once the new owner, Fairfax Petroleum, files the Corrective Action Plan, there will be a 60 day public comment period. It now appears that this comment period will likely occur during July/August, a time when many are away from the area or engaged in summer activities and not really following public announcements.

Non-Profit Organizations
About 40 persons, most representing over one-half of the 38 Great Falls Non-Profit Organizations, attended the April 9th semi-annual Non-Profit meeting sponsored by GFCA. Theresa Benincasa of the Fairfax County Office of Public Private Partnerships provided excellent verbal and visual information re databases, resources, Internet information, and other assistance available from her Office’s Grants Research and Training Center, the U. S. Internal Revenue Service, and others.

Thereafter, each participating non-profit had a representative, for about five minutes each, explain their major objectives, their special community programs and events, and their key individual and community concerns. Following the presentations, GFCA Outreach Chair Ralph Apton moderated an interchange of ideas between non-profit participants, GFCA officers, and the audience.  

Transportation Projects
• Beach Mill Road Closures
Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has advised that work on the new Beach Mill Road Bridge over NIchols Run will begin in during the period April 26 to June 19, 2013. Beach Mill Road, between Utterback Store Road and Springvale Road, will be closed to through traffic on the weekends from 9 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. These closures will not be scheduled over the Memorial Day weekend. The road will be closed completely on June 19, the day after Fairfax County Schools end for academic year 2012-2103. As planned, the project will be completed before the new school year begins. For more info, click here

• Walker Road "Diet" Project
The Walker Road "Diet" Project, temporarily delayed while VDOT and Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FDOT) coordinated on a design waiver to retain on-street parking, is now proceeding. An updated scheulde is shown below. It is expected that construction will be completed by the end of the year.. Construction will be completed by the end of the year. To view details for all Proposed Projects – including Route 7 Widening from Jarrett Valley Drive to Reston Avenue details, click here

TD Bank’s Special Exception
Application (SE 2013-DR-001)
The applicant, TD Bank, has submitted a Special Exception (SE) application to develop a bank branch with two drive-through lanes. The application has been accepted by Fairfax County. The application requests three waivers (i.e., (1) loading space requirement, (2) minimum lot area, and (3) minimum lot width). The applicant’s property is located at 9901 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls, VA 22066 (i.e., Fairfax County Tax Map 0131-01-0005A), which is the former Exxon service station. The applicant has made five (5) presentations to LUZ thus far and continues to seek input from the Great Falls community. To date, attendees have voiced concerns about the planned architectural design, ongoing environmental remediation, proliferation of bank branches, and potential traffic impacts.

The fuel pumps, underground storage tanks and contaminated soil in the vicinity of the underground storage tanks were removed from the facility in September 2012 under the direction of the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality (VDEQ). The property owner, Fairfax Petroleum Properties, LLC, is currently working with its environmental engineers to formulate a long-term Corrective Action Plan (CAP) for the property, which will be submitted to VDEQ for review and approval.

At the last public meeting, on February 12, the applicant submitted revised architectural renderings in accordance with the recommendations made by two of Great Falls long-standing architects, John Colby and Bob Mobley, and the revised plans were well received by the audience. Note: A public hearing before the Fairfax County Planning Commission is scheduled for June 20, 2013.

View the TD Bank design, click here.
3rd Submission by TD Bank 4-29-13, click here

New GFCA Board Members
Jack Clark and Keyvan Moussavi were unanimously approved to the fill the two GFCA Executive Board member vacancies during the March 16th GFCA Board meeting. Their term is through June 2014. Jack, a 13-year local resident, whose wife served as  President of Great Falls Newcomers and Great Falls Friends, recently retired as leader of Exxon Mobil Global Human Resources. Keyvan, who has lived in Great Falls for 25 years, is the founder of a firm that provides Internet consultation and large business transformation efforts to clients including the federal government, assists  his wife who has a booth at the local farmers’ market, and, while young, was an active Great Falls Fire Department volunteer.