By Jeremy W. Steele
The Cincinnati Enquirer

OXFORD - Plans to upgrade U.S. 27 in northwestern Butler County - including bypasses around two towns - have raised concerns that sprawl will creep into the largely rural region.

"If you build it, they will come," said Steve Bartels, Butler County agriculture and natural resources agent for Ohio State University Extension. "When you build or improve highways, that is the impetus for new growth."

The Northwest Butler Transportation Study advisory committee is expected this summer to recommend one of six proposals to upgrade the busy highway from College Corner to Ross. Those plans all would involve reconstruction of intersections and some include bypasses around Oxford and Millville.

The highway is plagued by sharp turns, busy intersections and congestion. Those problems are expected to worsen as the area grows by an estimated 55,000 people in the next 30 years, according to a 1998 study commissioned by Oxford.

"What's at stake is an opportunity to upgrade the transportation system and improve safety," said Oxford Mayor Ken Bogard, who chairs the advisory committee created in 2000. "Miss that opportunity and we'll miss it for the next 30 to 40 years."

But what those changes look like could be affected by efforts to preserve farmland and green space in that section of the county.

The Three Valley Conservation Trust, a nonprofit group based in Oxford, has secured development rights to nine farms, totaling 1,130 acres, and is working to obtain another 5,300 acres. Some of those farms would be in the path of a possible east bypass around Oxford.

The trust, which plans to formally announce its acquisition of the development rights of a 147.5-acre Oxford Township farm Friday, and the League of Women Voters of Oxford sponsored a meeting Tuesday in Oxford to discuss the six possible plans.

Many of the 50 or so people who attended expressed opposition to bypasses and other expansion plans.

Milford Township resident Marna Evans encouraged regional planners to save as much green space as possible. "Once the green space and agricultural lands are taken, there's no turning back," she said. "Once they're gone, they're gone."

E-mail jsteele@enquirer.com.