News! The Georgetown Reservoir Neighborhood Association (GRNA) is formally a Non-profit Neighborhood Association of Washington DC!

The GRNA endorsed Councilmember Frumin's proposal for
​DC to purchase the Intelsat Building.
Scroll down for information.

Georgetown Reservoir
Neighborhood Association
​GRNA

Georgetown Reservoir is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., District of Columbia with a population of under 1,000. Georgetown Reservoir is considered one of the best places to live in District of Columbia. Living in Georgetown Reservoir offers residents an urban suburban mix feel and most residents own their homes. 

The area sits at the southeast end of the DC Palisades bounded by MacArthur Blvd (East), Elliot Place NW (ESNS), and the Potomac River (West). 

The heart of the Georgetown Reservoir Neighborhood is the US Army Corp of Engineers "castle" located on MacArthur Boulevard. This is an historically preserved structure that is an integral part of the Washington Acqueduct. That system produces drinking water for approximately one million citizens living, working, or visiting in the District of Columbia, Arlington County, Virginia, and other areas in northern Virginia to include portions of Fairfax County.

This Georgetown Reservoir is located on the Piedmont, a plateau region located in the Eastern United States between the Atlantic Plain and the Blue Ridge Mountains, stretching from New York in the north to central Alabama in the south. It is characterized by relatively low, rolling hills with heights above sea level with numerous rock formations of different materials and ages intermingled with one another. It is the remnant of several ancient mountain chains that have since been eroded. The soil is characterized as "clay-like" that is given to erosion and makes it challenging to maintain our lawns!

Welcome to our neighborhood on the Palisades!

The GRNA's Alliances:
​Chesapeake & Ohio Canal - National Historic Park, DC
US Army Corp of Engineers - Washington Acqueduct

GRNA Mission

​The GRNA is an association of residents committed to the beauty, enjoyment, and safety of this small, historic neighborhood for both residents and visitors. To do that, we develop strong ties to other organizations and groups that are important voices of influence in this area. Some of those are the National Park Service, the DC Metropolitan Police,  District of Columbia Council members, the various Advisory Neighborhood Commissions in this and nearby areas. Our goal is protect the integrity of this community in these and other ways:

• Ensure continued, natural beauty of our streets and residences, greenspaces and parklands, recreation areas, vistas, and the Palisades "Main Street" on MacArthur Blvd.
• Assist in promoting small businesses that provide services complementary to the neighborhood needs and standards, as well as fair economic development of the District of Columbia.
• Look out for our elders and make sure they are treated with the respect due them, and that they enjoy safely walking and recreating in our neighborhood with freedom of movement.
  
• Remain vigilant of the continued health and wellbeing of all our neighbors.
• Ensure that young residents are protected from negative influences and are free to enjoy growth, recreation, education, and socialization in a positive way.
• Sponsor and organize social events that bring the community together, always including our Firefighters and Met Police Officers.

Founding Members

A new proposal to purchase the Intelsat building

Read Councilmember's Op Ed here.

Read and sign the petition here.

On October 10, 2023, Councilmember Matt Frumin published an Op Ed that outlined an elegant "deal" for the benefit of multiple DC stakeholders and residents, most importantly the improvement of our children's educational experiences. The GRNA has always endorsed the establishment of a DCPS school at the former GDS campus, though we continue to maintain that it is not a suitable high school location. At the core of our concerns is the lack of transportation, particularly for city-wide students. In addition, our riverside location renders half the surrounding surface land as water and reduces access roads by half.
The fundamental components of Councilmember Frumin's concept are:

• The District of Columbia purchase the Intelsat Building at 4000 Connecticut Avenue to house multiple, DC interests including: 1) High school education at a modern, centrally located, and metro-accessible site; 2) Accommodate University of District of Columbia (UDC) programs and/or activities; and 3) House an Elder Wellbeing program with suitable accessibility and central to community amenities.
• Foster a deal for the nationally-known Lab School to consolidate two locations (MacArthur Blvd./Reservoir Rd and Foxhall Rd/Q Street) and combine investments in purchasing the current MacArthur High School campus and building one school for all Lab School students.
• Free the historic "Old Hardy School" at Foxhall and Q Street that is currently leased by the Lab School for the use by its owner--the District of Columbia--as an elementary school that could relieve the overcrowding of the Key Elementary School.

The GRNA residents directly border the MacArthur High School campus.
Based on decades of experience in this neighborhood, we know that the MHS enrollment needs to be at 600 students or fewer. View the data to support that statement.

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MacArthur High School
Is this the right location for the 2nd or 3rd largest DC City-wide high school at
​800 to 1000 students?

The Georgetown Day School campus was designed for lower-level students. To scale the facility as a quality high school will far exceed any cost estimates currently indicated in the budget. We maintain that a complete build-out of an 800-1000 student school will at least double the budget, much like the renovation of the Duke Ellington High School--only two miles away. This is a partial list of required investments:

• Upgrading the buildings to be modern, safe, and stylish
• Science laboratories (biology, chemistry, physics)
• Computer Science & Math labs
• Language labs
• Basic arts facilities
• Modern food service, lavatories
• Parking for teachers and staff
• Student safety – e.g., on-property pick-up/drop-off​

Public Transportation is a single bus line, the D6

There are no alternatives to the D6 bus line to provide public transportation for high school students. With a metro 3 miles away, multiple transfers are very likely. Adding bus transportation would require WMATA agreement which has already been denied.
View the DCPS data on public transportation access for DC High Schools as compared to MacArthur Blvd.

Parking for Teachers, Staff, & Visitors

Within the MacArthur Blvd High School area, there are 

• 22 apartment buildings
• 6 townhouses
• over 70 private residences mostly requiring street-parking
• weekday 7:00 - 9:30AM no-parking restriction on MacArthur Blvd at the school site
• several private and no-parking zones
• nearly 100% Ward-3 residential restriction
• Competition with St. Patrick's School and the Lab School at the Old Hardy campus.

For teachers and staff at the high school there are

• 83 current on-site parking spaces (which could decrease with school expansion)

Thank you for visiting.
If you would like more information, please contact: