GOCA Year-End Update 2024
- shelleydeutch
- May 3
- 3 min read
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
As the year winds down, we are once again reflecting on how much our GOCA community has accomplished in 2024. GOCA was formed to preserve those things we value most in our area and to enhance Oakton with a sense of community and pride, but you may not be aware of how much GOCA is doing behind the scenes to move our initiatives forward and why we need your support:
GOCA has continued to engage in dialogue about the proposed redevelopment of the AT&T site with Providence Supervisor Palchik’s staff. Community feedback to GOCA has focused on the already overwhelming traffic on overcrowded roads and on Oakton’s schools. We encourage you to get up to speed on the proposal and its impact by attending tomorrow night’s Open House at the Jim Scott Center from 6:30 to 9pm. For more information, follow this link.
For the past year, GOCA has continued working with representatives at the Park Authority, which owns the historic schoolhouse in Oakton Community Park, to obtain easier access to the schoolhouse. This has culminated in a Memorandum of Agreement that GOCA has reviewed and hopes to complete by year-end. GOCA’s vision is that the schoolhouse could be an asset to those in our community who are looking for unique places to gather. This coming year, we will begin a capital fundraising effort to bring water to the historic schoolhouse.
After conferring with local historians, GOCA arranged to celebrate Oakton’s birthday for the first time this year, marking the date that Oakton was officially given its name, January 24, 1883, when its first post office was established. Marking Oakton’s 141st year, GOCA representatives and Oakton residents joined Providence’s District Supervisor Dalia Palchik and staff at the Providence District Open House for cake and a County proclamation.
GOCA joined with seven other local historic schoolhouses to found the Historical School Houses of Northern Virginia (HSNVA), and on Saturday, May 4th they all opened their schoolhouses to visitors. We are planning another Open House in May 2025.
We are following up on community input that we need signs to identify Oakton on our roadways. We worked with the Supervisor’s office to return signs on I-66 and we are happy that we now have signs designating Oakton both northbound and southbound on I-66. We would still like to get directional signs to Oakton at the exits themselves.
We continue to support the Invasive Management (IMA) site leaders who have worked so tirelessly in Oakton. You can see listings of IMA’s efforts at Blake Lane, Difficult Run Stream Valley, and Oakton Community Parks in our newsletters and on our website–we encourage you to join a session and see the community come together with shared passion.
GOCA has continued to bring our community together through events like Oakton Day in the Park, historical bus tours, bird walks, a birdhouse building workshop, pony rides, and by publishing a community directory.
GOCA’s efforts and most of our events are free to the public only because we are an all-volunteer nonprofit organization and your donations cover our expenses. To donate, please visit our PayPal link or you can mail a check to GOCA, c/o Lauren Crum, 10665 Oakton Ridge Ct, Oakton, VA 22124. Or if you would like to become more actively involved, email us at contact@greateroakton.com and we can match you with the right opportunity. We appreciate your feedback and ideas at all times.
Warmly,
The GOCA Board
Lauren Crum and Shelley Deutch, Co-Chairs
Jody Bennett, Linda Byrne, Jackie Davey, Mark Deaton, Janet Kerr-Tener (Founding Co-Chair), Kris Olsen, Robin Thurman, and Gary Wong
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