Rivermont is a 52-acre residential community located in Great Falls, Virginia. The vision of the team was to maintain the rural character of the site, originally a farm, and be an environmental steward of the property.
christopher worked with the developer, county staff, all stakeholders and citizens to refine the general development plan of this high-end single-family neighborhood as part of a public rezoning process. Our team attended numerous public meetings and were ultimately successful in moving on to the site plan phase.
With an intent to exceed environmental and sustainable requirements for the site, the team put together a plan that combined the most effective best practices from Virginia, as well as those from neighboring jurisdictions to Fairfax County. This included specially consolidated construction phases to limit the amount of denuded soil during any single phase, monitoring downstream channels and ponds with periodic survey checks, as well as running a check on the bottom of a neighboring offsite pond before and after construction to identify any added sediment buildup. All stormwater management facilities used on the site (underground detention and bioretention) allow for the maximum possible infiltration, supporting Low Impact Design (LID) approaches whenever possible. The team exceeded minimum County requirements by planting 350 trees in one of the reforestation areas, planting drought resistant grass and planning trails around the pond and throughout the community.
Rivermont was named 2018 Best Protected Environmentally Sensitive Site and Best Large Single Family Residential Community by Fairfax County. christopher consultants, engineer of record for the project, was also named Outstanding Engineering Firm by Fairfax County for their work on the site. The project was also awarded a ‘Great American Living Award – Innovative Land Planning’ by NVBIA.
