Twice at its March 17, 2025 meeting, the Clay Town Board voted 6-1 to approve a drive-thru business on the same 9.57-acre lot at Route 31 and Lawton Road. Twice, the applicant was the same company. And twice, a different board member cast the lone no. The first vote, on Town Board Case #1212, approved a special permit for Mirabito Energy Projects/Kelly-Tobin Development Corp. to build a drive-thru coffee shop on the parcel, in the town's HC-1 Highway Commercial District. The board had already found unanimously, 7-0, that the project was an unlisted action under a completed environmental assessment with no other permitting agency involved and no significant environmental effect. On the permit itself, Councilors Wisnowski, Young, Bick and Capria voted yes, along with Councilor Magaro-Dolan and Supervisor Ulatowski. Councilor Ryan Pleskach voted no. Motion carried, 6-1. Minutes later, the board took up Case #1213 — the same company, the same 9.57-acre tract, the same address and tax map parcel, this time for a drive-thru bank. The environmental finding again passed 7-0. On the permit vote, the roll call flipped: Pleskach voted yes this time. The no vote instead came from Supervisor Damian Ulatowski, who presided over the meeting. The permit still carried, 6-1. The minutes record no stated reason for either dissent. The board's attention then turned to a more contested case still far from resolved. A public hearing opened on an application from Sonbyrne Sales, Inc., doing business as Clay-Dolshire Byrne Dairy, to build a convenience store and gas station with 10 fueling positions on 2.47 acres at 7190 Buckley Road, the former site of a carwash near Clay Park South. Christian Brunelle, speaking for the applicant, told the board the company has not yet purchased the property and will not until it secures the special permit. He said the store would sit at the rear of the lot behind three curb cuts — two on Buckley Road and one on Dolshire Drive — with sidewalks, an arborvitae buffer and a brick façade meant to complement the North Medical building across the street, though he said the company would substitute fencing, trees or a different façade material if the board preferred. Asked by Councilor Young how much traffic to expect, Brunelle estimated about 180 cars per hour at peak, with a traffic study still to come. The concerns followed quickly. Councilor Pleskach said he supports Byrne Dairy's stores generally but flagged the retention pond, nearby neighbors and what he called one of the busiest intersections in town. Councilor Capria, who said he lives close to the site, worried about traffic backing up past Bailey Road to the funeral home. A couple who live on Dolshire Drive told the board that trash already blows into their yard from a dumpster on the site and raised concerns about gas smell, noise and loss of privacy. Supervisor Ulatowski said he would refer the application to the Planning Board for review, and the board adjourned the hearing to April 21 at 7:35 p.m. Two more drive-thru applications are now queued behind it: the board set an April 7 hearing on Northern Credit Union's request to rezone 5004-5008 West Taft Road for a bank with drive-in service, and another the same night on a McDonald's USA special permit for a drive-thru restaurant at 4979 W. Taft Road. In other business, the board closed a hearing on the town's Onondaga County Community Development Funds application without comment beyond a resident's question about where the numbers would be posted; Ulatowski said past awards to the town have run between 50 and 200 thousand dollars, with this year's allocation still unknown. The board also approved, at no cost to the Town, a sewer lateral connection for Empire Management of CNY/Brew Team NY at 3906 Brewerton Road, contingent on a $700 fee, and adopted a standard work-day reporting resolution for officials in the state retirement system. The board additionally settled a tax certiorari action brought by Ranalli Generations LLC over an out-parcel of the Great Northern shopping plaza at 4155 State Route 31, cutting the assessment for the single 2022 tax year from $294,261 to $83,500 and capping the Town's refund liability at $15,000. The meeting adjourned at 8:13 p.m.