The Town of Clay Zoning Board of Appeals did something unusual on Aug. 11, 2025: it wrote out a full legal ruling in its own minutes, and then voted against adopting it. The case, held over from a July 14 hearing, asked a narrow question with real consequences for a stretch of Route 31. The Town of Clay Planning Board, through its chairman, Russ Mitchell, wanted the Zoning Board to interpret whether a gasoline service station is an allowed use in the Highway Commercial (HC-1) district when it is part of a shopping center — the arrangement Mirabito Energy was proposing. The board's own motion, made by member Ryan Frantzis, walked through the code section by section: the definition of a shopping center lists gasoline service stations among the uses commonly included, and applying the standard rule that ambiguity in a zoning code is read against the drafter, the motion concluded a gas station is an allowed use in a shopping center in that district. The motion even added that if the Town Board wants to remove that ambiguity, it should amend the code. That conclusion never took effect. On the roll call, Frantzis and member David Porter voted in favor. Chairperson Vivian Mason voted opposed. The minutes record no vote from member Karen Liebi on this item. With only two of three recorded votes in favor, the motion failed — meaning the interpretation favoring Mirabito and the gas station use was not adopted, despite the reasoning written into the record supporting it. The board also declined to weigh in on a separate objection Mirabito had raised, that the underlying appeal was filed too late under the applicable statute of limitations, saying that question belongs in court rather than before the board. Attorney Robert Germain sat with the board for the case; no ruling resolves, for now, whether the Route 31 shopping center can include a gas station. The rest of the night's business was more conventional: five area variance applications, all approved unanimously on 4-0 votes with Deputy Chairperson Liebi joining Mason, Frantzis and Porter. Kirby Dar Dar, of 7917 Morgan Road, got a reduced rear yard setback, from 10 feet to 6 feet, to install an inground pool, telling the board the saltwater pool was for his family and that the surrounding land is farmland. Joseph Grispino, of 706 Shaver Avenue, received two variances at once: an 8.5-foot side yard setback cut to 3 feet for a 20-by-30 attached garage, and a rear yard setback cut from 10 feet to 3 feet to relocate an existing 12-by-26 shed. Pack Rat Storage, represented by Pat Reynolds of Ianuzzi & Romans, needed a variance simply to plant trees. The Town of Clay's code caps front-yard tree height at 2.5 feet, and the storage facility's screening plan called for Red Maple and White Spruce that will eventually reach up to 70 feet — by Reynolds' own account, 35 times the allowable height. The Planning Board had asked for the replanting after the original trees along Henry Clay Boulevard were removed. Freestone Road resident Janet Rathburn told the board she supported the request, saying the new trees would help cut down on noise. Northern Credit Union secured two variances for a planned branch with drive-in service in the currently vacant portion of Kimbrook Square: a building setback reduced from 165 feet to 128.6 feet, and a second freestanding sign where code allows only one. Attorney Brody Smith, representing the credit union, told the board the closer setback was meant to keep the new building's canopy in line with three neighboring buildings to the east. Member Liebi asked why the applicant hadn't simply taken over the building the site's former Walgreens had occupied; Smith said the credit union wanted a new building suited to its own brand. Carl Hibbard Jr. closed out the case list with variances for a detached 20-by-22 garage, cutting the front yard setback from 55 feet to 3.5 feet and the side yard setback from 18 feet to 5 feet, citing a culvert and a leech field that limited his options. Gaskin Road resident Lisa Campagna, who had emailed the board with questions, said after Hibbard showed her the proposed location in person that she had no concerns. Chairperson Mason adjourned the meeting at 6:52 p.m. What happens next on the Mirabito interpretation is unresolved: the board's written findings favor allowing the gas station, the vote did not, and whether the Town Board takes up the invitation to rewrite the shopping-center definition is, for now, an open question.