Featured News

Elections for Board and Officer positions are being sought, for our annual elections which will be held this June.  

Candidates must be members in good standing who will be effective leaders and contributors to GFCA's activities and who are supportive of our Mission.  

Members may send nominations to the Nominations Committee by email.  See here for more information.

In a letter sent April 8, GFCA President Eric Knudsen provided reactions to the proposed budget being considered by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.  Ralph Apton, chair of GFCA's Long Range Planning committee, presented oral comments at the BOS Budget public hearing on April 8. 

GFCA is requesting a list of budget changes, enhancements, and assurances relating to a list of local priorities such as the Grange and Old Forestville School (as a community center for Great Falls), parks and library funding, transportation (especially Rt 7 widening), Trails enrichment, and the Resident Curatorship program essential to protect and preserve historic structures like the Turner Farmhouse. 

More information, and the text of the GFCA letter to the Board of Supervisors, is available here.

The GFCA Long Range Planning & Development Committee (LRP) will hold a meeting to discuss local community priorities to be presented verbally and via letter at the Fairfax County FY 2016-17 Budget Public Hearing on April 7-9.

The meeting will be held on Thu Apr 2 at 7:30 pm, at the Old Forestville Schoolhouse (at the Grange).

For more information and a detailed agenda, see here.

Last fall, GFCA launched a community-wide program to plant new white oak trees in local parks and at residents’ homes, churches and businesses. 17 large white oaks were planted at Colvin Run Mill, Lockmeade Park, the Great Falls Library, Smith Chapel United Methodist Church and a number of local homes. This popular program will resume this year in April, with a new batch of trees to be planted by May 1.

If you would like to donate funds for a tree in one of our local parks, including Riverbend and the Old Schoolhouse, residents can send in a tax-deductible contribution of $466 to the Fairfax County Park Foundation, at 12055 Government Center Parkway, Suite 404, Fairfax, VA 22035. Their telephone is 703.324.8582. Website is: www.fairfaxparkfoundation.org. Please mark checks with: "Great Falls Legacy White Oak Planting."

If you would like to sponsor a white oak to be planted on private property, residents can have a 10’ white oak planted for $406 and, for an additional $150, have the tree watered every week throughout the spring and summer. For more information, please contact environment@gfca.org.

A range of environmental issues have been raised by residents, GFCA, and Fairfax County staff relating to the proposed development of Brooks Farm.  GFCA requested a two-month delay in the county’s consideration of this rezoning application so a more in-depth environmental review could be conducted.

GFCA will be hosting a public forum on Tuesday, April 14 to learn more about the County's environmental evaluation of the proposal and answer questions from Great Falls residents.  The meeting will be held at 7:30 pm at the GF Library.

GFCA has asked Fairfax County officials to address:

• Department of Public Works and Environmental Services—storm water management, Resource Protection Areas (RPAs) and forest management    
  
• Health Department—well and septic review    
  
• Department of Planning & Zoning—other environmental reviews    
  

Speakers will address both broad county environmental policies and specific considerations re: the Brooks Farm application.  The meeting is a joint initiative of the GFCA Land Use & Zoning Committee and the Environment, Parks & Trails Committee.    

At March's TownHall meeting, GFCA's Land Use and Zoning committee chair, Jennifer Semko, provided an update on review activities and progress in the evaluation of the proposed rezoning and cluster development on the Brooks Farm property.  

As part of its continued fact finding and investigation of the pending application, GFCA's LUZ and Environment (EPT) committees will hold a public committee meeting on Tuesday, April 14, at the Grange.

The Planning Commission hearing on the rezoning application has recently been postponed to June 10, 2015. Approximately two weeks before that hearing, Fairfax County staff will publish a report and analysis of the application. Final approval of the application rests with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, who will consider the application on a hearing date that is not yet scheduled. In the meantime, the LUZ Committee will continue its ongoing efforts to both communicate community concerns to the applicant and County staff, as well as provide an ongoing source of information for Great Falls residents.

More information on specific activities, past and future, is available on the LUZ Committee newsblog here.

On Feb 5, GFCA's Land Use and Zoning Committee (LUZ) held a public hearing on the process for the County's consideration of the rezoning application and development proposal submitted by Basheer Development for the 50-acre Brooks Farm property between Springvale and Walker Road.  Five members of County staff answered questions and over 50 Great Falls citizens attended.  

This hearing was a step in GFCA's and LUZ's investigation and exploration of the proposal for Brooks Farm, issues surrounding it (environmental, legal, and community impact), and the determination of a position on the matter.  The final decision will be taken by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, with the advice of County staff, most likely sometime this summer.  GFCA and LUZ are actively working on the review, which includes active dialog with both the County and the developer.

GFCA has also posted information from the developer on the proposal, including plans for the cluster development.

For a more detailed summary of the Feb 5 meeting, for status on GFCA's review process for Brooks Farm, or to obtain copies of the developer's plans, please go here.

Yesterday, an article appeared in the Great Falls Connection which covered the deer population problem in Great Falls, and the activities and discussions underway to find a solution. GFCA's Environment (EPT) Committee was featured.

A copy of the article can be found here.  A section of our website has been devoted to Resources for residents of Great Falls, and we have created a subsection devoted to the deer population issue.  It can be found by visiting Resources > Great Falls Resources > Deer and Forest Management in the navbar above, or by clicking here.

The GFCA Town Hall meeting on January 13, 2015 focused on deer management. 

• Results of GFCA's 2014 survey of Great Falls residents on deer and forest health, lyme disease and deer/vehicle collisions were presented. 
• Great Falls residents Lt. Col. Matt Allison, Jerry Peters and Catherine Sullivan discussed an innovative local program to encourage more deer hunting on private land in Great Falls.  Called "GreenFire", it promises to help reduce the deer herds that are denuding the forest undergrowth and the next generation of tree saplings. 
• Excerpts of a science video were presented, demonstrating how trees and other species have returned to Yellowstone National Park through a deer and elk population control program.
  

As part of its continued fact finding and investigation of the pending rezoning application related to the Brooks Farm property in Great Falls, the GFCA Land Use and Zoning (LUZ) Committee will hold its next committee meeting on Thursday, February 5, at 7 pm at the Great Falls Library...

More information can be found here Land Use & Zoning News