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March 30, 2001Family enjoys life in small townKINGSLEY - It was just over five years ago when Mike and Kim Goggin decided their young family had outgrown their Traverse City apartment and needed a new place to call home."Anywhere we looked in Traverse was incredibly expensive," she recalls. As the search for a comfortable yet reasonably priced home site continued, the Goggins ended up in a new subdivision on the south side of Kingsley where they built a home. The Goggins aren't alone. The village is the fastest-growing community in Grand Traverse County, according to the newly-released 2000 federal census figures for Michigan. The village has added 731 people over the past decade to 1,469, a 10-year growth rate of 99.1 percent. The family is somewhat typical of the county's overall growth pattern over the past decade - younger families searching for affordable properties that can also offer solid school systems and friendly, familiar communities. "It sounds a little silly, but it just feels safe out here," said Kim Goggin, a school teacher at Forest Area School. Mike Goggin is an accountant in Traverse City. "Everybody else is looking out for everyone's kids ... it's a good feeling." Chuck Lark and his family moved into the village from Paradise Township four years ago. "One of the reasons we stayed here was because of the school," he said. "They keep the kids busy all year around." Goggin said she wasn't that surprised by the village's surging growth in the past decade, as many of her friends and neighbors that have moved there feel the same way she does about the community. "It's fun to go into the pharmacy where everybody knows you," she said. "It's fun to go into the gym where everybody knows you." "It's really easy to get involved," she added. "You don't always have that opportunity when you live in a large community." - Bill O'Brien Read more about the census: • 13-county region has grown 22 percent since 1990 count • Michigan’s top 10 population gainers, losers (map) • Michigan suburban migration accelerates • Region’s racial characteristics (chart) • Region’s population change (chart) • Cities' losses are townships' gains • Family enjoys life in small town • What's at stake with changing population • Large cities that lost or gained population (chart) • City and village populations (chart) • Quiet life entices familes to 'burbs • Native American numbers on rise • Aging citizens outpace younger generation • Population changes in region by county, city and township (chart) |
