The Dalton City Council voted 3-0 on Monday to approve a $218,674 contract with Arcadis to design a park on the Temple Beth-El property on Valley Drive.
Council member Dennis Mock was absent, and Mayor Annalee Harlan Sams typically votes only if there is a tie.
The project, which will include a retention pond, will simultaneously help control stormwater runoff, create a small park and help memorialize the city’s Jewish heritage. City officials and members of the temple authority have been discussing the project for more than a year.
The council accepted the donation of the property from the temple authority in March. The contract with Arcadis calls for the design work to be completed within 210 days.
The project is one of several the city has started, and in some cases already completed, in the past four years to control stormwater runoff in the residential areas west of Thornton Avenue and north of Walnut Avenue.
According to the Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities, Dalton’s Jewish families came together in June 1941 and unanimously approved the construction of a synagogue, and one month later they approved the constitution for Temple Beth-El. World War II delayed the construction, and the temple formally opened in March 1947.
There have not been active, regular congregation meetings in the temple for about two decades.