Craig Davis was one of many Wingfield Pointe residents who turned out for a meeting with environmental officials on Wednesday. Davis is vice president of the subdivision’s homeowners association. steve earley/the virginian-pilot.

Video: Residents react to E.P.A. results Related: Past stories on the case

CHESAPEAKE ­— Federal and state officials announced Wednesday that there is no immediate health threat at the Deep Creek subdivision where chemical waste was found, but residents may have to wait more than a year to get a clean bill of health for their properties.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said they did not have the manpower yet to sample the substance in the drums, found when a swimming pool contractor was digging in a back yard at the Wingfield Pointe subdivision Jan. 11. But the initial testing of samples taken around the area does not indicate a health hazard, they said.

EPA contractors and technicians will be back at the subdivision Monday to unearth the 20 to 30 barrels, which the pool contractor had covered, and do specific tests. Depending on what they find, the complete clean up could take more than a year.

“We don’t expect any problems anywhere outside of that property,” said Greg Ham , a EPA on-scene coordinator who responded to the incident.

With their health concerns somewhat soothed, uneasiness about property values surfaced at the meeting, which was attended by about 75 Wingfield Pointe residents.

“We’ve been in a state of not-knowing for two weeks now,” said Craig Davis, vice president of the subdivision’s homeowners association. “People in this neighborhood have been extremely patient.”

Toward the end of the meeting, that patience had started to wear off and homeowners chafed at the lack of response from the city.

Wingfield Pointe homeowner Leon Hutchinson said that, since the barrels were unearthed, he has tried to refinance his home to no avail.

“The appraiser will not come out,” Hutchinson said. He was told about a pig farm, but not about the dump. “If somebody would have told me that was a landfill, I would never have bought it.”

How could the city’s Planning Commission have approved a subdivision on a dump, he asked.

City Attorney Ron Hallman said surveyors or title examiners would have noticed the landfill boundaries, recorded on the subdivision’s plat.

He also mentioned the “Buyers Awareness Package” the Planning Commission required each homeowner be given when the commission approved the subdivision in 1988.

No copies of the package have surfaced, nor has any homeowner at Wingfield claimed to have or to have seen any packages.

William T. Wingfield, the developer of the project, has said that buyers of lots in parts of the neighborhood where there were environmental issues – believed to be 13 out of 68 lots – were notified about the property’s history.

The city has said it has no liability regarding the incident, and the matter is largely between sellers and buyers.

Hutchinson asked whether he would still have to pay taxes on a property right now worthless. “I’m sure you would,” Hallman said.

“You try to sell a house out there,” Hutchinson said. “We are neighbors for at least two years. ... We are all stuck now.”

There may be a stigma on properties at Wingfield, but homeowners could expect to have federal and state documents to prove the property is safe when the investigation and cleanup are completed, said David Polish, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator.

“Most reasonable persons will understand what’s going on and you will be able to sell that property,” he said.

Lab tests detected more than a 100 different substances in the samples taken by the EPA and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

The substances found ranged from organic, petroleum-based compounds such as ethyl-bezene and xylene, present in paint products; heavy metals such as lead, aluminum and arsenic; and pesticides and herbicides such as DDT, among other substances.

But officials reassured residents that the substance levels were not enough to raise any significant health concerns.

“There is not one of us that would hesitate to buy a home in Wingfield Pointe,” said Frank Daniel, DEQ regional director.

EPA officials said they expect the cleanup to be concentrated mostly where the drums were found.

If the drums are not considered hazardous materials, the DEQ will remove them. If they are determined to be solid waste, it could be as simple as hauling the drums to a SPSA landfill, Daniel said.

According to the DEQ, the site belonged to Edna Branch from 1950 to 1965. Arthur Hitch bought the property in 1965, and leased the land to Lonnie Sanderlin from 1965 until Sanderlin was evicted for unknown reasons in 1985.

Sanderlin ran a hog farm and in 1965 and 1966 sold sand from the property to contractors building Interstate 64. From 1967 to 1985, he allowed dumping in the area.

From 1968 to 1973, the site accepted paint waste from the Ford Motor Co., Daniel said.

Wingfield bought the land in 1985. The following year he allowed dredged spoils from the Gilmerton Cut on the property.

Reach Claudia Assis at 222-5207 or claudia.assis@pilotonline.com