Health & Fitness
Caterpillar’s Impact Hard To Know Until Suppliers Identified, According To Oconee County Development Head
Caterpillar will bring about 150 people from outside the area to work at the manufacturing plant and distribution center here, but those people are unlikely to all settle in Oconee County.
Caterpillar will bring about 150 people from outside the area to work at the manufacturing plant and distribution center on the edge of Bogart, but those people are unlikely to all settle in Oconee County, according to Rusty Haygood, Oconee County Economic Development director.
The plant is located at a nearly ideal location in terms of transportation, and it is unlikely to have a significant impact on traffic congestion in the area, he said.
The major impact of the project will come when suppliers also move to the area, but, at present, it is “too early to tell” how many such suppliers will relocate here, according to Haygood.
Haygood made the comments to the Citizen Advisory Committee on Land Use and Transportation Planning at its meeting on May 15.
Haygood had been invited to the regularly scheduled meeting to brief the Committee on Caterpillar and its implications for land use and transportation in the county.
Haygood, who is credited with playing a key role in landing Caterpillar, usually works behind the scenes. I have edited his comments into a short video that gives his sense of optimism about the Caterpillar project. A clip from that video is here.
Details of Haygood's presentation and the full video are at Oconee County Observations.