By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Over the last few decades, just about everybody who has wanted a piece of Columbia Township has gotten it.

Workers finish the slab floor on new construction at Wooster Pike and Walton Creek Rd. in Columbia Township. (Michael Snyder photo)

Once one of Ohio's largest townships, repeated annexations have reduced Columbia to nine pieces of land scattered through southeastern Hamilton County. Township Administrator C. Michael Lemon likens it to "an inland archipelago - a bunch of islands in a sea of municipalities."

Its total size is a scant two-and-a-half square miles and has the third smallest population - 6,557 - among Hamilton County's 12 townships.

Its boundaries are so confusing that some residents don't realize they live in Columbia Township, which includes the Village of Fairfax. To make matters even more perplexing, the township building isn't even in the township. It's in Madeira.

"Usually, you don't know when you enter or leave the township except when it snows," Township Trustee Susan Hughes said, only half joking. "If there's no snow on the street, it's Columbia Township. We remove the snow faster than Cincinnati."

Township officials, tired of losing land and businesses to other communities, plan to take decisive action.

They will develop a strategy for retaining and recruiting businesses, establishing a stronger township identity, making sure residents and businesses know about the township's services and create a 20-year comprehensive master plan.

"It's time for us to get in the game," said Steve Langenkamp, a newly elected trustee who had been township clerk.

Columbia seemed in danger of being annexed out of existence after its former administrator, James Harmon, and his daughter and his son-in-law, both township employees, pleaded guilty in 1999 to stealing township funds.

But the township survived the scandal and is pushing ahead with determination.

Throughout Ohio, small townships like Columbia are struggling. But few actually disappear. Between 1960 and 2000, 21 townships were dissolved, completely annexed or abolished. None was in Greater Cincinnati.

Butler County's Lemon Township is splintered into several small segments and has only 1,474 residents in its unincorporated areas. It might not exist if Monroe, a city of 7,133, were not a part of the township.

In sharp contrast to Columbia, Warren County's Franklin Township is exploring a possible merger into the city of Franklin. The township wants to prevent Middletown from gobbling up its prime development land near Interstate-75.

Kathy Schirmer, a resident of the Columbia Township's Madison Place neighborhood for the past 18 years, said she enjoys living there.

"It's a good area to walk in," she said. "You can walk to a movie theater and good restaurants. It's just a pleasant and quiet area."

Theo Morgan, who has lived in Madison Place for 33 years, said he likes the township's services.

"I'm well satisfied with it," he said. "I don't want us annexed to Cincinnati. No way."

Columbia Township will hire a consultant this month to devise an economic development plan.

Its primary business area at Ridge Road and Highland Avenue has recently lost a Kmart store and a Sam's Club. With that business district providing 60 percent of the township's property tax revenue, the trustees are anxious to fill those vacant facilities and retain the other businesses there.

The trustees will consider offering tax incentives and creating tax increment financing districts - tools Cincinnati and other nearby communities have used to attract new businesses. Tax increment financing is a development tool that uses property tax revenue to help pay for a project.

"Everybody's cutting a deal," Hughes said. "That's how they're getting the companies. We've got to protect our tax base."

The township is working with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department to compile a list of the township's businesses with key contacts, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses.

This will enable the sheriff's department to quickly inform businesses about emergencies or crime prevention programs, and it will allow the township to communicate easily with the businesses.

One way the trustees plan to create a stronger township identity is to place township signs at key entry and exit points.

"Identity is big," Langenkamp said. "It creates credibility."

The township's biggest job will be developing a 20-year master plan, a project that will take about two years. Residents, businesses, services providers and township officials and staff will take part in the creation of this plan.

Through this plan, the township will be able to determine its long-term goals.

"We'll look at everything - infrastructure, services, staffing, equipment," Lemon said. "We'll see where we want to be in 20 years and see how we can get there."

Lemon believes that process of developing the master plan will help unify the many disparate segments of the township.

Despite its struggles at times for mere survival, township officials feel optimistic about the future.

Its business district centered at Wooster Pike and Walton Creek Road is booming with activity. A small shopping center is being built at the southeast corner, a convenience store-gas station-car wash at the northeast corner and a Walgreens drug store at the northwest corner.

"We want to be like The Mouse That Roared," Lemon said, referring to the satirical 1959 film about a small European principality that declared war on the United States. "We don't have much, but we want to make the most of what we have."

Columbia Township by the numbers

6,557: Total population of Columbia Township

4,619: Population of the incorporated areas only

5: Number of full-time township employees

$3.2 million: Township budget for 2004

County comparison

Columbia Township, which has struggled at times to survive, is one of Hamilton County's smallest townships. In terms of population and area, Colerain Township, also in Hamilton County, is the largest in Ohio.

	Columbia Twp.	Colerain Twp.
Size	2.5 square miles	45 square miles
Population	6,557	60,140
Median household income	$39,919	$49,960
Median value of housing*	$92,400	$97,000

*owner occupied

Sources: U.S. Census, township governments

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E-mail skemme@enquirer.com