Three large properties along Georgetown Pike east of the village will soon face the same fate as the former Marmota Farm. Toll Mid-Atlantic LP Company, Inc. completed its purchase of the land at 9800 Georgetown Pike in mid-September and is developing 11 new homes on that acreage.
In May 2021, Forestville, LLC purchased the 7.5-acre McCoy property at 9609 Georgetown Pike, the site of a 1970s-era stone house and plans to erect three new houses on the site. Because the property has over 600 feet of frontage on the Pike, the developers are required to build a trail; that section may eventually be part of a footpath that will link the village with Great Falls Park.
A little further east, AB Land LLC, which has an affiliation with Artisan Builders, a McLean-based company, acquired 9.4 acres at 9305 Georgetown Pike in July 2021. This property is where Ghazwa Estates, a 7-home subdivision, which originally was to include an additional 5.4 acres, was slated to be built. While plans have not been submitted by the new owner, concerns with the Ghazwa plan regarding environmental apprehensions related to stormwater runoff were raised by nearby property owners and the Great Falls Citizens Association’s Land Use and Zoning Committee. Since the land lies within the Difficult Run Watershed and has perennial stream beds that eventually flow into a designated Resource Protection Area, it is an environmentally sensitive location.
These two newer projects are joined by the development activity currently taking place at the 13.1-acre Cornwall Farm development. Purchased in 2014 by Versailles Custom Homes and Developments, Inc., clearing and grading of the site began in earnest at the end of September. This property, at 9414-9416 Georgetown Pike consists of two parcels of land. The historic Cornwell Farm home, plus a horse barn and a caretaker’s cottage sit on 8.1 acres fronting the Pike, while the model home for this development is located on an additional 5-acre parcel at the rear.
A total of six homes on two-acre lots are planned for the subdivision, including the historic manor. The four-bedroom, 3.5 bath Georgian house constructed around 1831, was accepted to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. For more information on the Versailles development see https://youtu.be/K8NKvuXeCW8.
Both new and long-time residents of Great Falls have voiced their concerns with the inevitable loss of trees these building projects will entail. Community leaders have expressed the hope that those developers who are environmentally sensitive will limit clear-cutting whenever possible and will take steps to restore the viewshed along the Pike with native trees and plants.