Gailliot Family Business History
Chicken farm to sand and gravel quarry to landfill to golf course to shopping center in 80+ years
As Lee District grew, land uses have changed from agricultural, to industrial, to suburban. Similarly, the Gailliot family business has evolved from chicken farm, to sand and gravel quarry, to construction debris landfill, to golf course, and the latest addition, to a retail and office center.
The Gailliot Family has owned the parcel of land located at the intersection of Telegraph Road and Beulah Street since 1917. Henry and Franceska Gailliot, originally from Alsace-Lorraine, France, came from Pittsburgh where Henry worked in the steel mills. Henry had the ambition of owning his own business, so he brought the family to Virginia where he purchased the farm in Franconia. The original business on the property, from 1917 until the early 1950’s, was all about chickens. After avian flu decimated the flock, the Gailliot family wanted to continue to support their family and contribute to the economy of the area as they had for the last 35 years. Utilizing the natural resources of the property, the family went into the sand and gravel business, incorporating as Hilltop Sand & Gravel Co., Inc. in 1954. The sand and gravel business closed in 1982 after the sand and gravel deposits were depleted. The business evolved into an approved reclamation project where the land is reclaimed by filling the quarry with construction and demolition debris. The construction and demolition debris landfill started in 1979 and closed in 2013.
The Gailliot family started Hilltop Golf Club in 1997 with a driving range next to the landfill. In 2000, 50 acres of the landfill was capped and closed. In 2000 Hilltop received permits from Fairfax County to build a golf course. The result was an award winning 9-hole 2300 yard golf course with holes 3, 4, 5, and 7 on the landfill.
The Hilltop landfill consists of three phases. Phase I operated from 1979 to 1999 and was closed in 2000 with a membrane cap that included passive landfill vents and redeveloped into the golf course described above. Phase II was operated from 1996 to 2010 and was closed and capped in 2010. Closure included the voluntary installation of a landfill gas collection and control system (GCCS) that includes a landfill gas flare. The Phase II GCCS includes 10 vertical LFG wells, a horizontal gas collector network, and a six inch diameter utility flare. Phase III operated from 1999 to June 2013 and was capped. The GCCS was expanded into Phase III. The Phase III GCCS expansion includes 23 vertical LFG wells and 7 horizontal collectors.
Phase III closure also includes grading for a park to include an adult soccer field and little league baseball field, playground, tot lot and pavilion. The landfill waste under the future improvements in the park have been surcharged with dirt stockpiles to induce waste settlement. Park construction is scheduled to start in 2022 with the fields ready in 2023 after two turf growing seasons. Fairfax County Park Authority will manage and maintain the park. A portion of the landfill is also located beneath access roads and parking lot in Hilltop Village Center shopping center anchored by Wegmans Food Markets.
In Novermber 2012, the Hilltop Sand and Gravel Green House Gas Project started generating carbon credits consistent with the Modalities, Procedures and Guidelines (MPGs) included in Decision 18/CMA.1 adopted at COP24 in 2018 requiring all Parties to the Paris Agreement to report national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories using “common reporting tables” (CRTs). Hilltop adopted the California Clean Action Registry (CAR) protocal for independent third party CRT verification. Hilltop's GHG emission reduction project has generated CRTs from the Phase II GCCS since November 2012. The Phase III GCCS significantly increased the volume of LFG collected thereby increasing the annual number of CRTs generated. Hilltop completed its first 10 year Greenhouse Gas Project in 2021 and will begun a second 10 year GHG project in 2022.
The company has a history of giving back to the community, a practice begun when Clemens Sr. donated funds to Frying Pan Park in Herndon – a place to visit chickens and discover where eggs really come from. The Gailliot family, in the form of Hilltop Sand & Gravel Company, Inc., has continued to donate to Fairfax County parks since that time. Over the past nine years Hilltop has contributed more than $114,000 to their neighborhood recreation center, Lee District Park.
Awards
Certificate of Recognition presented to Hilltop Sand & Gravel Company, Inc. for outstanding commitment and contributions to the Fairfax County Recreation Centers in the Lee and Mount Vernon Districts, which has helped to improve the quality of these recreation centers for Fairfax County Residents. January 2008
Elly Doyle Park Service Award awarded to Clemens S. Gailliot, Jr. in recognition for outstanding service contribution to Fairfax County Parks. 1992
Elly Doyle Park Service Award awarded Hilltop Sand and Gravel Company, Inc in recognition for outstanding service contribution to Fairfax County Parks. 2012