Community Profile

Community Profile Location Population Transportation Public Utilities Labor Market Area Businesses Industrial Park Small Business Incubator Finance Communication Climate Housing Government Service and Facilities Community Facilities Parks & Recreation Cultural Area Annual Activities Religion

Population Demographics Age Gender Cultural Diversity Income Education School Industries Labor Force Occupation

Location

Located in the southwest corner of Michigan. Major cities easily accessible to Greater Niles area are:

Population (2000 U.S. Census)

Niles - 12,204
Area - 5.5 square miles

Surrounding townships and Niles City - 33,235
Area - 42 square miles

The 49120 Zip Code population (Niles, Niles Township, Howard and Bertrand Townships, Milton Township) is 36,176

Total population for Berrien County - 162,453

Transportation

Air:
Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport (Niles) - Private and Charter
South Bend Regional Airport - Served by US Air Express, Nashville Eagle,United Express, Allegheny, Comair, Continental Express, Northwest, Trans World Express, American Eagle, Delta

Rail: Norfolk-Southern  freight; Amtrak passenger service, South Shore Railroad passenger service

Bus: United Limo

Taxi: Niles Taxi Service, Dial-A-Ride

Motor Freight: 17 lines

Highways: Served by Interstate 94, Interstate 80-90 (Indiana Toll Road), U.S. 31, U.S. 12, M-60, M-140 and M-51

Water: Lake port - St. Joseph-Benton Harbor - 25 miles, Deep water port - Port of Indiana - 50 miles

Parcel Service:

Public Utilities

Telephone: Ameritech

Electric: City of Niles Utilities Department; American Electric Power Company

Natural Gas: SEMCO Energy

Water and Sewer: City of Niles Utilities Department

Water Source: 8 wells - Total capacity - 7 million gallons per day. Elevated storage: 1,650,000 gallons

Sanitation: Treatment plant - Activated Sludge; capacity: 10.8 MGPD sustained maximum flow. Present load 2 - 2.4 MGPD

Labor Market (annual average - 2002)

Area Businesses

Industrial - 115
Commercial - 722

• ABB Flakt Garden City Fan - Industrial fans and blowers; employs 88
• Brandywine Public Schools; employs 205
• French Paper Company - employs 100
• Hess Engineering, Inc. designs and builds process lines for transportation and steel industries; employs 150
• Lakeland Regional Medical Center - employs 505
• National-Standard Company - specialty wire, wire products; employs 250
• Niles Community Schools - employs 575

Industrial Park

Niles Industrial Park: 418 acres within the city limits. Served by Conrail and is within three miles of major highways. Fifty-five acres are fully developed with industrial capacity utilities in place. Several major industrial firms are presently located in the Park. Other industrial sites are available.

Bertrand Crossing: 86 acres located at the southwest corner of the US-31 and US-12 intersection in Bertrand Township. Development began in 1993 to address needs of the community in the area of workforce development and facility planning and is home of Lake Michigan College's Regional Technical Center. LMC offers programs and classes that have been designed based upon a needs assessment of area manufacturers and general curriculum projections. Sites are also being made available for appropriate manufacturers. Infrastructure improvements include water and sewer lines to the site as well as newly paved roads. In order to maintain a high standard at Bertrand Crossing, development covenants have been adopted that define types of businesses and construction and landscaping requirements.

Small Business Incubator

Center for Business Development - offers affordable space and support services for new businesses starting up or existing businesses that have only operated out of the home. Types of businesses assisted by Center are: research and development projects, distribution, and service oriented businesses.

Finance

City of Niles (Berrien & Cass County Properties):

2009 Total SEV Value $262,038,563 and Taxable Value of $218,570,545

Niles 2009 Millage Rate - Non Homeowners PRE 50.94520 - Homeowners PRE 32.94520 per $1000 State Equalized Value (SEV).  **PRE = Principal Residence Exemption

Niles area Banks - Huntington National Bank, Fifth Third Bank, First Source Bank, Chemical Shoreline Bank, LaSalle Federal, and Standard Federal Bank.

Niles area Credit Unions - United Federal Credit Union, Greater Niles Community Federal Credit Union, and Berrien Teachers Credit Union.

Communication

Radio:
WNIL-AM, WAOR-FM, WSMK-FM, WNDV-FM, WNSN-FM, WAUS-FM (National Public Radio), WGTC-FM,

Television:
WSBT-TV (CBS), WNDU-TV (NBC), WSJV (FOX), WBND (ABC), WNIT (PBS), WHME (Religious) NOTE: TCI Cable serves the Greater Niles Area 

Newspaper:
The Niles Daily Star, The South Bend Tribune, Herald-Palladium, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Berrien County Record

Climate

Average temperatures: Summer - 71^o F, Winter - 26.2^o F

Average precipitation: Rainfall - 39.14", Snowfall - 71.1"

Housing (2000)

Government Services and Facilities

Form of Government:

• Niles: City Council/City Administrator
• Niles, Howard, Bertrand, Milton Townships: Township Supervisor

Police Personnel: City of Niles - 24 full time police officers, along with 25 support personnel

Fire Department: City of Niles (fully equipped) 14 full time, 19 volunteers

Niles Community Library: 125,344 volumes

Community Facilities

Health:
Lakeland Community Hospital, Niles, is part of Lakeland HealthCare, a not-for-profit, community-owned health system that includes three hospitals, an outpatient surgery center, long-term care, rehabilitation, and home health services. An 89-bed facility serving Niles and southwestern Michigan with primary and specialty care services, the Niles location provides all general community hospital services, including obstetrics, surgery, emergency care, radiology, laboratory services, and outpatient oncology.

Southwestern Michigan Community Ambulance Service (Niles) - Non-profit governmental authority staffed by a full time director and fully trained paramedics.

Nursing Homes: three licensed in Niles, seven additional in the area.

Educational:
Niles Community School System - enrollment 3,829 K-12. Six elementary schools, one junior high school, one senior high school

Brandywine Community Schools - enrollment 1,373 K-12. One middle school, one senior high school

St. Mary's Catholic School - enrollment 90 K thru 6

Seventh Day Adventist School - enrollment 60 K thru 8

Community Colleges - Lake Michigan College (Small Business Services Center-Niles) and (Niles Extension); Southwestern Michigan College (Niles Extension); Indiana Vocational-Tech College (South Bend)

Colleges/Universities - University of Notre Dame (10 miles); St. Mary's College (10 miles); Holy Cross College (10 miles), Davenport College (10 miles), Indiana University - South Bend (10 miles), Bethel College (12 miles), Andrews University (12 miles); extensions of Michigan State University and Western Michigan University (25 miles).

Parks and Recreation

The City of Niles maintains several parks including Island Park, Plym Park, and Riverfront Park.  Riverfront Park is located along the St. Joseph River downtown and boasts a 5 miles walking trail along the beautiful and scenic river, an amphitheater where free outdoor concerts and other events are held, boating docks and a large children's playscape area.  Riverfront Skate Park is located within this public park and draws kids from the entire area.  The Niles area maintains 9 parks, soccer, football, and softball fields, as well as tennis and basketball courts. The YMCA offers complete facilities and family oriented programs. Also available are opportunities for boating, canoeing, tubing, fishing, water-skiing, bowling, ice skating, golf, racquetball and cross-country skiing.

Cultural

Thirteen Antique Malls and Shops, Art Gallery, Fort St. Joseph Museum, Fernwood Botanical Gardens, South Bend Symphony, Niles Performing Arts Association.

Area Annual Activities

Hunter Ice Festival
Youth Festival - Weekend before Mother's Day
Bluegrass Festival
Dragon Boat Challenge
Michigan's Longest Garage Sale
Niles Bensidoun French Market
Summer Concert Series
Riverfest - first weekend in August
Triathlon - Labor Day Weekend in September
Apple Festival - first weekend in October
Haunted House Scream Park
Thanksgiving Day Run - 5 and 10 K
Downtown Lighting Ceremony
Fort St. Joseph Museum and Chapin Mansion Christmas Open House
 

Religion

Forty-six churches, representing 24 denominations.

Population Demographics

Age

(Source: 2000 Census)

Gender

Cultural Diversity

Income

(Source: 2000 Census)

Median household income - $31,208

Education

(Source: 2000 Census, Persons 25 years and over)

School

(Source: 2000 Census, Persons 3 years and over)

Industries

(Source: 2000 Census, Employed persons 16 years and over)

Labor Force

(Source: 2000 Census, Persons 16 years and over)

Occupation

(Source: 2000 Census, Employed persons 16 years and over)