LIBERTY TWP. — Butler County and township leaders say an eastward interchange off the Michael A. Fox Highway at Interstate 75 would lead to thousands of new jobs, millions in tax revenues and reduced traffic congestion. But neighbors who live, work and play near the proposed site see a path to problems.

        “This is one of the hottest growth opportunities in the state and the country,” County Commissioner Mike Fox said. “It's like plopping a growth engine down and it will generate jobs and wealth for the next decade.”

        Yet as county and township officials have recently stepped up their push for the eastward interchange, tensions have risen among some residents, who hope to either block the interchange or at least keep it as far west of their homes as possible.

        “This is crazy,” resident Dean Corbissero says. “I don't want an interchange and commercial development behind my house. It's unbelievable. Just tell me what to do to stop this.”

        Plans pushed by Mr. Fox and others would extend the highway a quarter-mile east to connect with a proposed four-mile section of Cox Road in southeastern Liberty Township. The highway opened in December 1999 and connects Hamilton to I-75, but didn't run east because Warren County leaders opposed its connection through Mason to I-71 and housing emerged along the likely right-of-way.

        Under the current proposal, Cox Road would be extended north and widened to five lanes from Hamilton-Mason Road to Kyles Station Road where the township meets Monroe. As part of the extension, Cox also would be connected to the Fox Highway, creating a short drive to I-75 and linking more than 600 acres of commercially zoned property.

        But Mr. Corbissero lives on Oleander Court in the Four Bridges subdivision, where 20 homes on the west side of his street back up to a 96-acre farm and 18-hole golf course that the interchange and extended road would roll through.

        His neighbors, many who paid from $5,000 to $10,000 in premiums to live next to a golf course, share his frustration. They say they cannot fathom why township leaders want to pack business and industrial development so close to homes that range from $250,000 to nearly $1 million. They also do not want Cox to be five lanes, which they say would guarantee massive development.

        “All right, so what's our action plan?” neighbor Craig Boynton asked Mr. Corbissero and another resident last week when they flagged him down in the street to talk about the interchange. “We sold our last house in Loveland because they were building commercial in our backyard. This is round two.”

Country club community

        Four Bridges is Liberty Township's premiere country club community along the township's eastern border with Warren County. There are some 800 apartments, condominiums and homes in the neighborhood that twice hosted Homearama, in 1999 and 2001. At least 200 more homes soon will be under way in Four Bridges, between Princeton and Millikin roads, as the subdivision expands.

        “Everybody at Four Bridges is extremely concerned about the interchange simply because we don't know how close it's coming to our backyards,” said Tom Farrell, president of the Four Bridges Homeowners Association.

        Many residents had been aware there were proposals for an eastward interchange. But until recently, nothing happened, so the topic lurked in the backs of their minds. And some homeowners insist they knew nothing about it at all.

        Attention to the proposal has increased in recent weeks as county officials have begun pushing hard publicly, including pressing Gov. Bob Taft, who recently chastised Mr. Fox for criticizing what Mr. Fox sees as foot-dragging in Columbus on the project.

Golf course gone?

        Just northwest of Four Bridges, the Harder family has been operating the Green Crest Golf Course adjacent I-75 off Bethany Road since 1969.

        The 110 acres used to be a farm when Mitch Harder's father owned it; now Mr. Harder, his brother Richard and son Jason operate the course. It serves eight schools' golf teams and countless youth, women and other leagues amid lakes and wildlife.

        Many of the 40,000 people who use the course each year urge the family never to sell for development. Four Bridges neighbors, too, regularly phone to plead with them to stay.

        The Harders vow they will.“Green Crest will be and continue to operate as a golf course,” Jason Harder says. “Maybe enough people will voice their opinion and lots of voices will add up to them hearing us out and paying attention to the public.”

"There is no planning'

        The county commissioners and Liberty Township trustees agree the interchange is a high priority and a crucial need. Liberty's population skyrocketed 147 percent between 1990 and 2000 and now stands at 25,000.

        Homes are built here at a stunning rate. At least a dozen subdivisions are under construction now. Out of the 6,000 homes predicted to rise in southeastern Butler County over the next five years, most of them will pop up in Liberty.

        But there are few businesses in Liberty — and that's the way many residents say they like it. There even have been two grassroots efforts to curb commercial developments through referendums — one was a success but the other failed.

        Meanwhile, Liberty's residential property taxes continue to climb and just jumped another 18 percent on average with the recent countywide property reappraisals Still, some residents say they knew taxes were steep when they moved in and prefer more homes being built rather than commercial development — especially if the businesses resemble the convenience store/gas stations, fast-food restaurants and strip shopping that cropped up at Cincinnati-Dayton Road just off the Fox Highway. That's where the township's main business district should have been, neighbors say.

        “There is no planning. It's all quick, quick, quick,” Four Bridges resident Karin Manual said. “They rush everything through. ... Let's have a Starbucks and bring some class to Liberty Township.”

        Trustee Christine Matacic says an extended Cox Road has been in the works since a 1994 county thoroughfare plan. And as for a lack of planning, she notes the township just agreed to spend $2.5 million on 54 acres zoned for multi-family housing that will now become a park. .

        Besides, Ms. Matacic and other officials say, the land where the interchange project would go was zoned for office and light industrial use.

        “I think we all make choices and we make those choices with the knowledge and understanding of what's going on around us,” Ms. Matacic said.

Columbus connection

        While the project would be locally funded, it needs the Ohio Department of Transportation's support. ODOT is awaiting a regional study early next year before approving any new interchanges between I-275 and I-675 in suburban Dayton.

        “Time is our enemy. That's why we're so hyper about this,” said Mr. Fox. “Everybody wants to slam the door after they get here. The longer we wait, the more pressure is going to be put on land owners and the township and county to build houses rather than businesses.”

        Homer and Ruth Harding are selling their 96-acre family farm on Hamilton-Mason Road just north of where Cox ends and would be extended through should the interchange go in.

        They are under contract to sell to a Cincinnati development firm they decline to name.

        “It's got to be done,” Mr. Hardin, 67, said of the interchange. “Traffic is so bad something has to be done and it's going to get worse if they don't get some roads in.”

        Vanishing farms cause environmentalists such as Glen Brand, spokesman of the Sierra Club's Midwest region, to cringe. So do interchanges, which he calls the leading cause of sprawl.

        “When we widen roads and build new ones we simply make traffic congestion worse,” Mr. Brand said. “It doesn't address the root causes, which are poor planning and overbuilding.”

        There is a prominent Four Bridges homeowner who says he sees the need for the interchange: Ohio Treasurer Joe Deters.

        “I am very concerned with our property taxes, to be perfectly candid,” Mr. Deters said. “It's an incredible burden on the homeowners over there.”

        Mr. Deters says the issue is a “Catch-22.” The interchange, he said, would be a win by bringing in businesses to offset residential taxes but also could be a loss because it may decrease Four Bridges' property values.

        He called for the commissioners to be sensitive to residents' concerns and buffer the subdivision as best they can from the interchange's noise and lights.

        “If they're not, we'll just have to vote them out,” said Mr. Deters, who like the commissioners, is a Republican.

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