Greenwich’s Planning & Zoning commission discussed a pre-application from the Alpha School, a private AI-driven alternative school of which there are about 50 across the country.
Alpha School seeks a change of use from retail to school at 20 East Elm Street in the CGB and CGI.
Some highlights of the school’s business plan are that it would operate a single shift on weekdays only. There would be no on-site outdoor activity. Off-site park trips would be by chartered shuttle, and scheduled outside peak hours. All outdoor activities would be conducted in local parks and ballfields, subject as required to town permitting. There would be no daily bus service, no late-night use, no public assembly, and no commercial food service.
The commission focused on their major concern which was whether there even was an opportunity for safe student drop-off and pick-up.
Saks women’s shoes at 20 East Elm St. May 13, 2026 Photo: Leslie Yager
The property at 20 East Elm has no dedicated parking. Instead, the school would rely on two town municipal parking lots, with staff using the Liberty Lot and parents using the Bruce Lot to park and escort their children to a door on the side of the building where staff would receive them.
The municipal lots are overseen by Parking Services, which is part of the Greenwich Police Dept.
A key concern is that the Bruce Lot features a two-way town access drive used by Police Dept as the employee entrance for their parking garage.
Attorney for the applicant Chip Haslunnoted that police do not make emergency responses from their garage.
He described a staggered arrival and departure with a “delivery and retrieval system” where parents park their car and escort the children to the school, rather than queue for drop off and pick up.
He said there would be staff assigned to check in and check out students, though there might be a waiver for older children (school goes to 8th grade) they might walk, ride a bike or take public transportation with parent permission.
Staff would park in the Liberty Lot across East Elm Street.
Mr. Haslun said students would arrive and depart at staggered times, at non peak hours.
“Is this something the commission would contemplate so that it is worthy of a school going forward with a final site plan and special permit application? he asked.
Haslun noted from previous commission decisions, the building was restricted to 68 employees. This stems back to Greenwich Time operating their headquarters at 20 East Elm from 1937 until April 2008. The newspaper company added a second floor to the building in 1960 and a rear extension in 1971.
Alpha School proposes no more than 10 staff and an enrollment of roughly 40-60 students.
It was most recently home to retail uses, including Urban Outfitters and then Saks shoe store.
Commissioner Peter Lowe said crossing the busy driveway along Bruce Lot was impractical and unsafe.
Commissioner Mary Jenkins was particularly concerned about the pick up from 3:30 to 4:30pm given a projected enrollment of 40 to 60 students.
“There are certainly not 60 parking spaces, probably not 20 parking spaces in the middle of the day in the middle of town,” Jenkins said. “If it doesn’t work, you’ll have informal pick up and drop off. If you can’t find a parking space, you’ll go around the block three times and drop the kid off at the front door. The danger issue is not resolved.”
Ms Jenkins said Parking Services would know what would happen if the school were to add an extra burden of the students arriving in the morning and departing in the afternoon.
Brooks Harris agreed.
“I don’t know what I’d do if I arrived there and there are no parking spaces and my kid has to get to class. Without some dedicated parking spaces I think it’s aspirational to assume people will be able to park there and walk their kids.”
Ann Noel Jones said the municipal lots might not be busy early in the morning but are heavily used at other times of the day.
As for proposed off site recreation, Ms Jones asked how the school would get students into shuttles to go to nearby parks, playgrounds and ballfields. She noted the town fields are scheduled by Parks & Rec and are heavily used.
Mr. Haslun said town fields might not be heavily used during the school day. He had suggested the applicant consult Parks & Rec Director Joe Siciliano about use of fields.
There site has four dedicated tandem parking spaces, and while they are not suitable for parking, they could be used for service and deliveries, and for vans to transport children to playgrounds and other recreational facilities.
Haslun said there was precedent for the proposal, including the Cos Cob library, which has no pickup or drop off and shares parking with the Cos Cob fire house. Similarly, he said a Christian Academy behind a Catholic Church in Riverside has a shared parking lot and no pickup or drop off.
“The question is, is this a nonstarter with the commission? Should we even bother having John (Canning) do a (traffic) investigation,” Haslun asked.
P&Z Chair Margarita Alban said the commission is always open to ideas.
“I’m hearing a lot of reservation,” she said. “If you can find a solution, I believe we will all be open to it.”
Dennis Yeskey said, “The concept is great. The location is terrible.”
Nick Macri said the two-way driveway was also used as access to businesses on Greenwich Avenue.
Ms Alban suggested the applicant talk to Greenwich Police Chief Heavey, who uses that garage and is familiar with the traffic patterns there.
“He has parking services. He knows who goes up and down that access drive to their garage.”
Commissioner Peter Lowe said there might be a novel approach.
“The commission isn’t going to commit municipal parking with this magnitude of use on it without talking to parking services,” Alban said.
Commissioner Ann Noel Jones said parking services might have some stats and DPW recently completed a parking study.
Yeskey said he liked the school’s concept but urged the applicant to find another location away from downtown.
Alban said the commission had “severe reservations.”
“But if you can come up with – you’re going to have a parachute drop the kids in, you’re good,” Alban said.
See also:
P&Z Watch: Private A.I. School Proposed for Downtown Greenwich
July 7, 2026