Art gallery plan approved for Greenfield Hill site

As zoning amendments go, it was relatively simple: Add the words "art gallery" to the uses allowed in a Neighborhood Designed Business District.

Lawyer John Fallon made the application for the zone change Tuesday before the Town Plan and Zoning Commission after an earlier zoning compliance application for J. Russell Jinishian Gallery to open in a former bank at 1899 Bronson Road was denied.

Though at the time TPZ members felt that an art gallery was an acceptable use in the Greenfield Hill business district, the regulations on such neighborhood districts are specific about what is and is not allowed. The commission rejected the application with the suggestion that the applicant seek a zoning amendment, and that is what Fallon did on Tuesday.

The TPZ unanimously approved both the zoning amendment and the zoning compliance.

"It's a specialized gallery dealing in original marine and sporting art," said Fallon, who is a resident of the neighborhood. "I think it's a perfect addition." The gallery is staffed by Jinishian and a part-time employee, and serves a great deal of its clients via the Internet, he added.

TPZ Chairman Bryan LeClerc questioned whether the "art gallery" amendment was for galleries where people go to look at art or to purchase art.

"This is an art gallery that is commercial in nature," Fallon said, not a gallery in a not-for-profit setting like Fairfield University, where the art is generally not for sale.

"I'm all for this change," Commissioner David Soutar said. "I love art galleries."

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