Hyundai Motor Group’s Metaplant America in Georgia / Yonhap
The Hyundai plant in Georgia — once praised by the Trump administration for creating jobs but was later raided by U.S. authorities last September, leading to the arrests of more than 300 Korean workers — is now facing opposition from local residents concerned that rapid development is bringing collateral damage to their community, a local newspaper reported.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a local newspaper based in Atlanta, Georgia, reported Wednesday that residents and community members in Bryan County called for a slowdown in or adjustments to various development plans during a Development Authority of Bryan County board meeting held in February. The Hyundai plant was among the projects mentioned.
The county which was once home to more timber tracts and crop fields than people is now developing “too much and too fast” after Hyundai moved in Corey Foreman, a Republican state Senate candidate, was quoted as saying.
The paper pointed to rising home prices, worsening traffic and mounting pressure on public infrastructure as key problems tied to the rapid development. Although the projects have produced thousands of jobs, local residents are now calling for a halt to new development, the report said, noting that the area is becoming less welcoming to new businesses even as Georgia has long promoted itself as the “best place to do business.”
The report quoted local resident Ken Copi, who said Bryan County does not need more jobs and that development is “creating traffic and putting a strain on your water and sewer.” It also cited Tiffany Zeigler, mayor of nearby Pembroke, who said, “We knew something was coming to the site, but we didn’t realize how big.” She added that the town had “people who were afraid of it and people who embraced it over time.”
Bryan County in eastern Georgia has become home to Hyundai Motor’s Metaplant, completed last year, and a cluster of Korean companies that have moved into the area. The area also drew attention last September when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the site of a Hyundai Motor Group-LG Energy Solution joint battery plant and detained 317 Korean workers on alleged immigration violations after a report from a local Republican official. The workers were released eight days later.
Manufacturing investments including Hyundai Motor and other companies have helped the local population grow by 53,000 over the past 15 years, a 71 percent increase that ranks among the highest in Georgia. Hyundai officials acknowledged traffic and water-related problems in the early stages of plant construction but said many of them had since been addressed, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
This article from the Hankookilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.
Source: Korea Times News
