The gallery was tentatively named Kepton 2046, a moniker that combined the Hungarian word for art gallery with its Fairmount Avenue address. But Sara Duling and husband Sandor Ferenczy's plans to renovate a long-vacant garage near 21st Street stalled when the Fairmount and Spring Garden civic associations rejected the plan. Why? Because they also called for a second-floor office for the construction company owned by Duling and her brother Fred. Since the trio abandoned the project last month, all that remain are two crumbling flyers taped to the three-story stucco building.

"You have an Art Museum district, supposedly," says Sara Duling, "but there's no art outside the museum."

While local advocates maintain that art thrives in the neighborhood, Duling can't understand why the civic associations couldn't see past office-space issues in exchange for the gallery. Duling and Ferenczy needed the associations' blessing before they could ask the city's zoning hearing board for permission to run a commercial venture in a residential area. (Both groups consider the south side of Fairmount Avenue part of their jurisdiction.)

At first, the groups were thrilled at the prospect of an art gallery opening across from Eastern State Penitentiary. Yet, they were hesitant to approve another second-floor commercial use since there's already one on the block. Facing opposition, Duling opted for a second-floor home office and a residence on the third, but after the associations put limits on usage of the office — a visitor could only occupy it for 30 minutes a few days a week — Duling dropped the application. This, rather than go before the zoning board without the associations' OK. Duling says she spent $20,000 on architectural drawings and attorneys' fees but wasn't prepared to spend what she projected could be another $30,000.

Pat Freeland, of the Spring Garden Civic Association, says Duling and Ferenczy first proposed the Duling Restoration office alone before coming back with plans that included an art gallery. Kevin Greenberg, who sits on the Fairmount Civic Association's zoning committee, said the civic associations had good reason to restrict commercial use beyond the art gallery.

"The art gallery was never, ever, ever a problem," says Greenberg, adding that changing the street's character was a concern. "We've got a vision for Fairmount. It doesn't include this."

Pressed to explain the vision, Greenberg would only say studies of the Fairmount Avenue corridor are under way. The avenue is zoned residential, but features dozens of businesses including a coffee shop, pet shop, restaurants and a hair salon.

Lori Salganicoff is executive director of the Fairmount Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit group that can offer tax exceptions to improve the neighborhood. Run by volunteers since 1999, the Fairmount CDC became a nonprofit in 2002 and set up shop in a storefront office at 2206 Fairmount Ave. in March. While the CDC is mum on the art-gallery quarrel, it's linked to the debate since some of CDC members sit on Fairmount Civic Associations' zoning committee and the association can elect three members to the CDC board.

A neighborhood plan created by the CDC in December 2003 calls for solutions to parking, trash and blight through initiatives such neighborhood cleanups, public awareness campaigns and town watch. Other recommendations include promoting business through events, contacting derelict property owners and planting street trees. The CDC just received a $16,000 grant from the city Department of Commerce to commission an expanded study of the area, including Francisville, Salganicoff says. Market Knowledge of Wilmington, Del., would look into what customers want and how to attract new customers, among other things. Some $2,000 would be used to market the Oct. 16 Arts Crawl, an event in which restaurants and stores display local artists' work.

"Fairmount is hopping and we want people to know what's going on," says Jill Markovitz, founder and director of the Fairmount Art Center and an organizer of the Arts Crawl.

Jane Golden, director of the Mural Arts Program, based in Fairmount, calls artists "the hidden treasures of the community."

"I think it's about a sense of identity and representation," she says. "It's about anything that takes art [out] from behind the walls of the museum."