By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

INDIAN HILL - This exclusive community wants to keep its new park exclusive, too.

Indian Hill officials plan to shut out anyone but city residents and others in nearby Camp Dennison from the 309-acre Grand Valley park to be developed on Ohio 126 in Symmes Township.

PLANS

Open house: Indian Hill will unveil its master plan for Grand Valley at 6 p.m. May 25 at Livingston Lodge, 9350 Given Road. An ad hoc committee will make a final recommendation to council after residents of Indian Hill and Camp Dennison offer comments. The plan: Projects include connecting the lakes for boating and fishing; planting prairie grass, and constructing an entrance, gate and parking spaces. The park could take five years to complete, but boating could be available this summer. Winter sports: Council has not yet decided on a proposal by the Indian Hill Winter Club to build a $2.7 million winter sports complex on four acres at the northwest corner of the site. The complex would include an ice rink, gymnasium, paddle ball courts, fitness facilities and meeting rooms.

"It's going to be by pass only. It's really not going to be a public park per se, but a private park on public land," City Manager Mike Burns said.

"(Council) wanted to keep it a low-key park, and one way to keep it a low-key park was to keep it open only to residents of Indian Hill and Camp Dennison."

Restoring gravel pit

A $5 million plan is being considered to restore much of the land and 10 large and small lakes at the former gravel pit to a wildlife habitat and boating venue, with a boathouse and wildlife interpretive center.

A private and newly formed winter sports club - with members from Indian Hill, Loveland, Mariemont, Evendale and Symmes and Sycamore townships - also wants to lease four acres to build a 40,000-square-foot ice rink and fitness center there.

Restoration of the gravel pit comes two years after the council in this wealthy eastside community of 5,900 residents spent more than $7 million to buy the former Martin Marietta site.

The purchase thwarted plans for a 600-home luxury community called The Wharf, which Indian Hill officials and Camp Dennison residents feared would jeopardize the area's water supply. A city well field is less than a half mile away.

The $7 million price tag was about twice what the developers paid for the land, Mayor Thomas Rink said.

The small community of Camp Dennison is in the township, but residents will be given park privileges because they supported the city's attempt to acquire the gravel pit site, Rink said.

Residents there did not ask for the perk, said Mike Howell, a lifelong resident of Camp Dennison.

Symmes Trustee Kathy Wagner thinks Indian Hill's pass-only plan contradicts the intended use for public park land.

"It does bother me a bit. Even though it's in Symmes Township, I don't think we can do anything about it. I guess the rest of us aren't good enough. That's how Indian Hill works," Wagner said.

Restrictions unusual

Communities around the state restrict privileges for the use of facilities such as pools and recreation centers, said Michelle Park, executive director of the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association. But, she said she was not aware of any that put such restrictions on publicly owned park space.

"It's more unusual than usual," Park said.

The Hamilton County Park District requires permits for its park, but they are available to everyone, spokesman Jim Rahtz said. Permits also are required for several state nature preserves that are considered fragile areas, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Indian Hill leaders decided from the beginning that outsiders wouldn't be allowed into the park, Rink said.

"It was based on the desire that the property be kept in relatively pristine manner," he said. "We put a lot of money into it. That's why we are trying to preserve it."

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com