“Driving” School Gets Green Light

New Haven lawmakers voted to allow driving schools to open downtown — as long as the students aren’t allowed to drive.

Tyronda James said she is ready to roll.

James (pictured), who grew up in the Hill, has dreamed of running a school to get inner city kids and ex-convicts behind the wheel to help them turn their lives around. She thinks she can make a classroom-only driving school work.

James petitioned the City Plan Department last April to let her open a classroom-only driving school on the 19th floor of 157 Church St. And on Thursday night the Legislation Committee of the Board of Alders voted at City Hall to approve an amendment to the city’s zoning code that would permit such schools in one downtown zone, reversing a decades-old prohibition.

The full Board of Alders must now vote to approve the zone change.

“I’m not sure why it wasn’t originally permitted use,” Deputy Director of Zoning Thomas Talbot said of downtown driving schools in his testimony to the committee. ​“It’s to the benefit of the community to permit this.”

The original amendment – a proposed revision to Section V, Article 42 of the zoning code – did not stipulate whether driving schools would be allowed to offer behind-the-wheel instruction in the traffic-heavy neighborhood.

That confusion led to debate Thursday night over the wisdom of letting student drivers practice on busy downtown streets.

Beaver Hills Alder Richard Furlow, who co-sponsored the amendment to allow the school with Downtown Alder Alberta Witherspoon, said the proposal was not originally intended to allow behind-the-wheel instruction.

“I apologize that I didn’t catch that,” Furlow said.

Talbot, who testified in favor of the amendment, said the downtown area offers exactly the type of challenging, high-intensity training that student drivers need to improve. 

“It’s not a high school parking lot,” he said. ​“But on the other hand, you can make the case that downtown New Haven is a very good place to learn how to drive.”

The hearing began to wind down after Downtown Alder Sarah Eidelson made a motion to create two separate categories in the zoning ordinance: one for driving schools that provide behind-the-wheel instruction and another for schools that offer only classroom work. The committee adopted the motion, and voted to permit only those schools that fall into the latter category.

An Affordable Driving School

James, who originally applied to open a classroom-only school, clapped and cheered when the verdict was announced. 

She first considered opening a school three years ago during her time as a life-skills coordinator at the Children’s Community Center on Blake Street. Part of her job there consisted of transporting foster children to driving schools outside New Haven.

“And I thought to myself, ​‘This would be great: An affordable, accessible driving school,’” James said.

She had planned to open James Affordable Driving School – a low-cost, easy-to-access school geared toward students hoping to use their license to qualify for better-paying work – in the same Church Street office complex that currently houses her Internet marketing company.

She soon learned, however, that city zoning laws wouldn’t allow it. So she contacted Talbot at the city planning department to call for changes to the relevant ordinance.

“I also want to set an example as an African American about us getting involved in making legislation, not just sitting around going, ​‘Well I can’t do this, I can’t do that,’” James told the Independent after her testimony.

Thursday night her persistence paid off, as the alders voted to give her driving school plan the green light. 

James, who attended Wilbur Cross and Hillhouse High Schools, said she has no qualms about the committee’s decision to ban driving schools that offer behind-the-wheel instruction.

“I felt like, as a new driving school, I’m not ready,” she said. ​“I would encourage or refer [students] out either to family members or maybe go to another driving school for that.”

And then she turned to leave, smiling widely as she skipped down the steps of City Hall.