SYMMES TOWNSHIP — Residents from the township, Camp Dennison and Indian Hill were upset Wednesday night when developers and their attorneys failed to give specifics about how they will transform a 340-acre gravel pit into a $200 million upscale community called “The Wharf at Symmes”.

        “So far, we have no answers excluding these attractive pretty pictures. We have no answers tonight regarding sewage, regarding contaminants, regarding anything,” said Judy Havill, who lives a quarter-mile from the proposed development site along Ohio 126 in Camp Dennison.

        More than 100 people crowded the township building, eager to ask how up to 600 homes, valued at $300,000 to $1 million each, would affect traffic, ground water and Indian Hill Schools.

        The project would include two lakes, a central village area, a wharf, beaches and parks on the perimeter. It is adjacent to the Little Miami River.

        Audience members sometimes laughed when developers Tim and Greg Hensley couldn't give them specifics. The Hensleys said they have begun environmental and traffic studies but still don't know how many cars homeowners would have or how badly lawn chemicals would contaminate lakes proposed for the project. The property has no sewer or water hook-ups.

        “It's conceptual. Nothing is etched in stone. (But) we're talking about upscale homes and homes that are going to be great neighbors for you,” said Tim Hensley.

        Indian Hill School Superintendent David Quattrone noted that the project could generate $1.5 million in tax revenues for the district. The amount, he said, isn't enough and could leave the district having to seek a new school levy.

        The Hensleys and Darrell Leibson, a township zoning commissioner who will remove himself from public meetings pertaining to the development, are functioning as Camp Dennison Development Co. They have an option to purchase the property from Martin Marietta Corp. By October, township trustees are being asked to approve a “community unit plan” for the property, now mainly zoned heavy industrial.

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