Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-NewsCity of Refuge Executive Director Pamela Cudd says the organization should be able to move into its new facility at the corner of Morris Street and Glenwood Avenue in late September.

DALTON, Ga. — The sounds of a construction crew filled the large building at the corner of Morris Street and Glenwood Avenue. The interior of the building had been gutted just a few months earlier. Now it was laced with studs for the walls of classrooms, offices, an indoor playground and a kitchen area.

“We believe that we will be able to move in sometime in late September, or early October at the latest,” said Pamela Cudd, executive director of City of Refuge.

City of Refuge was founded in 1995. It provides services to low-income families, including transitional housing, a food pantry, a clothing store, education programs for both children and adults, and hot meals. Funding comes from individuals and businesses in the community.

Cudd said they have partnered with other organizations to provide some services. Rock Bridge Community Church hosts its Sunday hot meals program, and Dalton Public Schools has hosted its summer reading and math programs for children. But the Morris Street site will allow City of Refuge not only to bring all of its programs under one roof but to expand its education programs.

City of Refuge Executive Director Pamela Cudd talks about the organization’s new location

“We’ll also be able to add some things,” Cudd said. “We will have a gymnasium with an indoor soccer field. We will also have a large, indoor playground for the smaller children.”

The building and the 2.3 acres it sits on were donated to City of Refuge by Shaw Industries a few years ago.

“We’ve got about 197,000 square feet here, compared to 5,000 in our current campus (at 201 Bryant Ave. on the south end of Dalton),” said Cudd.

One thing City of Refuge won’t be able to do at the new site that Cudd had hoped to do is offer transitional housing for women and children. The site’s current zoning of heavy manufacturing won’t allow housing. The organization had requested the site be rezoned to transitional commercial, which would allow housing, last year.

The Dalton-Whitfield Planning Commission unanimously recommended the rezoning. But the City Council tabled the request at its June 2017 meeting, with members saying they needed more information. Some downtown business owners were said to be concerned about having a shelter just across the railroad tracks from the downtown business district. Cudd said she is not going to push ahead on the rezoning request or plans for housing right now.

“I want to show them (owners of neighboring businesses) that we will be good neighbors,” she said. “I want to show them that we won’t hurt the downtown business area but will help improve the area.”

Some downtown business owners asked recently if they still have concerns about City of Refuge said they did not realize the organization was moving ahead with plans to occupy the Morris Street building.

“I haven’t heard anything from our members about it, but that’s probably because they haven’t heard they are getting ready to open up,” said George Woodward, interim director of the Downtown Dalton Development Authority. “I know I haven’t heard anything at all.”

Some downtown Dalton shoppers said recently they weren’t aware the organization was preparing to move to the Morris Street site.

“I recall the discussion of the rezoning last year,” said Dalton resident Joan Banks. “I hadn’t heard what happened after that. I know a little bit about City of Refuge. They seem to do good work. I hope everything works out.”