New Nursury/Garden Center Planned In Farmington

FARMINGTON, CT — A local company known for selling and distributing sand, gravel, topsoil and other outdoor surfaces is expanding into the realm of home garden/nursery retail operations.

Dunning Industries, located at 105 Brickyard Road, Farmington, recently earned Farmington Planning and Zoning Commission approval to build a large nursery and garden center in town.

At their last meeting, Farmington PZC members voted to approve both special permits and site plans for the site, which would be at 1079, 1085 and 1091 Farmington Ave.

That approval, which came early last month, is contingent on Dunning addressing some relatively minor issues raised by town staff related to the applications and that a neighboring exit area be created on nearby Melrose Drive.

Benjamin Dunning, currently the owner of the company founded in 1917 by his great-grandfather, was on hand at the PZC meeting to present the company's plans and answer questions from the zoning board.

Dunning Vice President Neil Lajeunesse was also present and explained, exactly, how the properties will be utilized.

"The application we're proposing to do is a retail nursery and garden center that's going to be catering to both retail and contractors," Dunning said. "There are three separate properties that we're going to join together into one entity."

He said 1085 Farmington Ave. would be the location of the retail garden center, while 1079 Farmington Ave. would be storage and office space and 1091 Farmington Ave. would be for contractor sales and loading.

Long range, however, Lajeunesse said there are plans to build a café at the 1079 Farmington Ave. site, which would have to go through a separate permitting process.

The hours of operation would be Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for contractor sales and Monday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for public retail operations.

Dunning's nursery retail operation would operate from March to December annually, according to the applicant's presentation.

A public hearing on the proposal that night drew no public comments and PZC members had, mostly, technical questions that were or will be clarified.

Lajeunesse said they were confident Dunning could address any and all issues relative to the applications by town staff members.

The vote to approve the project had little discussion and was unanimous.

For the minutes of the Nov. 6 Farmington Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, click on this link.

For more information about Dunning Industries in Farmington, click on this link.