Little Room For Lawns, And Not Much Need

Little Room For Lawns, And Not Much Need
By Susan Straight
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, February 10, 2007; G01

It's almost impossible to walk through Walnut Hill without being noticed.

There's a single entrance from Annandale Road into the 58-home Fairfax County community, giving it a very private, almost gated feel. The houses sit close to the sidewalk and have large front windows. In fact, people wave at strangers in Walnut Hill, a neighborhood that prides itself on big houses that stretch to the edges of their lots.

While the one-eighth-acre lots make for minimal yardwork -- a draw for many -- the community does not lack for green space. A large expanse of lawn stretches out at the main entrance and surrounds the community. There is a large pond at the front of the neighborhood and many beautiful old trees spread throughout.

The land on which the neighborhood was built in the 1980s used to be home to O. Roy Chalk, the colorful entrepreneur who owned Washington's public transit system before Metro. He used his estate, also called Walnut Hill, for lavish entertaining -- the dining room sat 200, according to a 1969 Washington Post article.

That year, as his D.C. Transit System struggled financially, he listed the property for sale for $2.25 million. Despite what the article described as "its own clover-shaped swimming pool, tennis court, putting range, a pond where duck and geese abound, a stable for 12 horses and a mile-long track for equestrian shows and workout sessions," the 30-acre property languished unsold.

Notwithstanding his lavish entertaining, Chalk had long attempted to develop the land. Just two years after he purchased the property in late 1963 for $654,000, Chalk tried unsuccessfully to persuade Fairfax County to rezone the land for multi-story residential construction.

None of Chalk's redevelopment proposals panned out: not the mid-rise apartment building, nor the gentlemen's club, nor the townhouses. The property was zoned for 60 attached homes when developer Chrisland Corp. bought it in the 1980s. Chrisland obtained rezoning for single-family houses, clustered on small lots with community-owned green spaces.

The three-, four- and five-bedroom brick and siding houses have open floor plans and attached garages.

Chuck and Mary Field have lived in their three-bedroom, three-story house on Walnut Hill Court since it was built in 1989. When they were house-hunting, agents showed them the typical housing of the time: "Everything at that time was three nondescript bedrooms and a nondescript bathroom or plain old Colonials. Nothing new or interesting about them," Chuck Field said.

He said several agents "walked away" when he told them what he wanted.

"I said I wanted a large master bedroom suite, a large family room and kitchen, and I don't care what the rest looks like."

The couple had nearly given up on finding their dream home, but when real estate agent Lee McClary heard Field's wish list, she knew exactly where to take the couple. Chuck Field didn't even have to see the house; he liked what he heard from his wife's report, so she bought it while he was traveling.

McClary moved to the neighborhood herself when her husband was diagnosed with cancer about eight years ago. "We wanted a first-floor master bedroom," she said.

McClary had sold "a number of homes in the neighborhood" by then and "bought it without even going upstairs or downstairs." Her husband died six months after they moved in, and "the neighbors have been so kind," said McClary, who recently retired from a longtime career with Weichert Realtors.

The appeal for residents such as Valerie Mawdsley and her family is the way their five-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot house was designed. "We really liked the open floor plan," she said. The kitchen opens onto the front hall and the dining room, which stretches unimpeded to the living area. Large windows overlook a pond and lawn outside.

Mawdsley, who writes and edits the homeowners association's newsletter, the Walnut Hill Quarterly, has lived in the neighborhood since 1997. One noticeable change in the past 10 years, she said, is the rise in numbers of cars per household. "There can be a parking problem," she said.

The homeowners association has not determined a solution yet, if there is one. There is no bus route or Metro station in or close by the neighborhood.

Residents agree to certain regulations when they purchase in Walnut Hill, as in other neighborhoods run by homeowners associations. By having clear rules, the association manages to minimize conflict, Mawdsley believes.

In terms of home exteriors, for instance, there is a palette of approved colors for the siding: shades of gray, muted blues, tans and creams. "You know what your neighbor's house is going to look like," Mawdsley said.

The association not only sets rules but also oversees the community's common areas. The job of maintaining the property became significant enough that it hired a property management firm to handle administrative issues.

Tracy Carney, a 13-year Walnut Hill resident who served as treasurer of the association for seven years before becoming president this year, said it is focused on maintaining a large amount of common space among relatively few households.

"It's my responsibility to make sure we have the reserve balance necessary to take care of the short- and long-term maintenance issues," said the accountant, now a stay-at-home mother. "We own our roads and our sidewalks and two tennis courts, and we have quite a number of trees. Our common area is actually pretty big for as small a community as this is. That's our biggest challenge."