By Perry Schaible
Enquirer contributor

LIBERTY TWP. - This fast-growing township seems to have it all, from top-notch schools to popular parks. But there's something else Liberty wants - its own ZIP code.

Township officials recently met with representatives of the postal service, but U.S. Postal Service officials said this week that there are no immediate plans for a new ZIP code for the township, which first brought up the issue six years ago amid a boom that saw a 147 percent growth rate in the 1990s and is expected to continue. The Butler County township now has an estimated 28,000 residents - divided among five ZIP codes.

"We're still at a position where our infrastructure can handle the growth at this time," said Jack Hunkemoeller, manager of operation program support for the Cincinnati District Postal Service.

However, Bonni Manies, spokeswoman for the Cincinnati District Postal Service, Wednesday confirmed plans to open a Contract Postal Unit in the Ace Hardware on Tonya Trail, near Liberty-Fairfield Road and Ohio 4, which has a Hamilton mailing address.

"It provides just about all the services that you could get at a regular post office except it's not going to have post office boxes or money orders," Manies said.

The unit will be a short drive for many residents who currently use the Middletown or Hamilton post offices. It is tentatively scheduled to open at 9 a.m. Jan. 23.

But Liberty still says it needs its own ZIP code. Residents are served by post offices in Lebanon, Monroe, West Chester Township, Hamilton and Middletown, with the majority of mail coming from the last two, using Maud Hughes Road as the dividing line.

Ben Dibble lives in Liberty Township, but his ZIP code puts his address in Middletown - at least a 20-minute drive away.

"It's very challenging to live in several communities all at the same time," said Dibble, a 9-year Liberty resident.

"It certainly would be nicer if we had one ZIP code that meant you live in Liberty Township and people recognize that it means that," he said.

Hunkemoeller said it's more complicated than simply assigning a number to the township. ZIP codes were put in place as a way to process and distribute mail, therefore all mail within a single ZIP code has to be handled in one facility.

That means a new post office would have to be built if Liberty Township were to get its own ZIP code.

But new ZIP codes don't come along very often. The last one in Southwest Ohio was in 1994, when officials added 45253 as a P.O. Box section at the Groesbeck Branch on Colerain Avenue, Manies said.

Liberty Township Board of Trustees President Christine Matacic said a Liberty Township ZIP code would not only make it easier on residents, but it would also eliminate confusion with funding issues based on population.

She said a conservative estimate indicates the township will have about 21,000 mailing addresses in the next eight to 12 years.

"If those numbers are reported inaccurately, those are funds we're losing," she said.