Overview of Novi, Michigan
Novi is a community in the U.S. state of Michigan in Oakland County. The population was 55,224 as of the 2010 census, a rise from 47,386 in the 2000 census.
Located about 8 miles northwest of the city of Detroit and about 16 miles northeast of Ann Arbor, Novi is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit. The city is situated within the limits of Novi Township ‘s survey township, which now includes parts of Northville and Walled Lake cities as well. Just a small fraction of the 0.11 square miles surrounded by the city is the remaining unincorporated township.
In 1832, on land taken from Farmington Township, Novi was organized as a township. At the suggestion of his wife, resident Dr. J. C. Emery gave the name Novi. Reportedly, people were searching for a shorter name than Farmington.
A local account said it was named after the 6th Grand River Road toll gate. But in 1832, the township was renamed and the toll road was not built until the 1850s. It was the sixth stagecoach stop outside Detroit, another account said. Similarly, the township was said to be stop six on the railroad, but until 1870-71, nearly 40 years after the organization and naming of the township, the Holly, Wayne & Monroe Railway was not extended through the township.
Novi continues to be one of Michigan’s fastest growing towns. The building of Twelve Oaks Mall in 1977 made the town a major shopping destination in the metropolitan area of Detroit and is also credited with ushering in a 40-year period of growth. This growth has led to major rises in the population of the area, as well as in the city’s commercial and industrial developments. On Money magazine’s list of the Top 100 Best Places to Live in 2008, Novi was ranked # 48. As of January 2009, Novi had more than 1,600 firms.
The economy of Novi comprises multinational companies with local and regional offices and owner-operated enterprises serving the local area. Though Novi is known for its large concentration of retail businesses clustered at the interchange between Novi Road and I-96, the city has many large retail centers as well as many individual retail businesses. Along Haggerty Road and Grand River Lane, Novi has car dealerships. Industrial and office parks in the city are home to companies in high-tech research and development, health care, transport and logistics, engineering, and automotive-related domestic and international suppliers. Energy-related firms are one of the city’s fastest growing industries. These businesses include ITC Transmission Headquarters, Novi Energy and Patrick Energy Services Offices.
Novi is the home to some of the largest health care networks in the country. The Providence Park Hospital is run off Interstate 96 and Beck Road by St. John Providence Health System. It has a capacity for less than 400 patients and is located on a 64-acre site that also includes the construction of a medical office and a neuroscience institute, a 100-room hotel, and an orthopedic facility housing an outpatient surgery center. Construction started in 2005 and lasted for three years at the hospital. The gross expense was $220 million or so. NBBJ was the architecture firm that designed the hospital and Korda was the engineering firm. The design of the hospital includes a six-story atrium, which opened in September 2008, that allows natural sunlight.
Novi works with an appointed city manager and an elected city council under the council-manager form of government. The city manager supervises the city’s day-to-day activities, oversees personnel activities, proposes the annual budget and provides the council with policy recommendations. The town council is composed of the mayor, elected to a two-year term, and six members of the town council, elected to a four-year term. The mayor is the Council’s presiding officer with the same voting powers as the other members of the Council. The mayor has ceremonial responsibilities as well. It is the responsibility of the council to hire the city manager. The city council passes the budget of the city and sets rules and ordinances for the city.