LIBERTY TWP. — Rather than put up a fight, neighbors should push for increased buffering and screening between their homes and a proposed eastward interchange off the Michael A. Fox Highway at Interstate 75.

        That was the recommendation Sunday from Four Bridges Homeowners Association president Tom Farrell, who met with about 70 residents beside the subdivision's pool.

        If residents unite and ask township leaders to amend zoning restrictions for better buffering on the land that separates their homes from the proposed interchange, township leaders have indicated to him they will approve their proposal, Mr. Farrell said.

        Now, the minimum buffering requirements are 6-foot pine trees, he added.

        “Right now we have the advantage,” Mr. Farrell said. “They are listening to us. ... The road is going to happen. We either spend our time trying to stop it or we spend our time protecting our properties.”

        A committee of eight neighbors was formed Sunday to devise a proposal to take soon to the township.

        Many Four Bridges neighbors oppose the interchange plan.

        Some even purchased their upscale homes, which range from $250,000 to nearly $1 million, because they back up to the Green Crest Golf Course, whose owners also object to the interchange because it would affect their property.

        But Butler County and Liberty Township leaders are expediting plans to extend the Fox Highway with an interchange about a quarter of a mile east because homes are gobbling up a great portion of the developable land left here.

        At least a dozen subdivisions now are under construction in Liberty, whose population skyrocketed 147 percent between 1990 and 2000 and now stands at 25,000. The interchange would link more than 600 acres of commercially zoned property by way of an extended Cox Road, which would run five lanes from Hamilton-Mason Road to Kyles Station Road where the township meets Monroe.

        While leaders say it's crucial Liberty sees business development to offset increasing residential taxes, many residents say they want the township to remain mostly homes. If there must be commercial development, they say they don't want it to be the usual convenience stores and fast-food restaurants.

        There have even been two previous grass-roots efforts here to block commercial development; one failed, one succeeded.

        “I am scared to death of what's going to happen,” homeowner Eric Kuns said.

        “There's no common sense. It seems someone is trying to force something through without going out in the community and seeing what we want.”

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