CLAY — Residents of the town of Clay continued to express their opposition to a number of proposed projects at the July 19 town board meeting, including an additional car wash, solar farm and a zone change for Hinerwadel’s Grove on Taft Road.

Royal Car Wash, co-owned by Anthony and Danny Daniele, is planning to expand their locations across Upstate New York. The Danieles are hoping to add a car wash along Route 31 about two miles away from 4 Seasons Car Wash. The proposed Royal Car Wash will resemble the company’s other locations, mostly in the Rochester area.

The proposed car wash brought about concerns over a potential increase of traffic on Route 31, and the proximity of Royal Car Wash to Niagara Car Wash and 4 Seasons. Employees and clients of 4 Seasons attended the meeting to protest the approval of an added car wash.

“You’re going to have cars making a left turn whether there are signs there or not. There’s going to be more congestion than any of us would like when going about our day-to-day,” said Katina Karl, a resident of the town. “After we’ve just come out of COVID-19, and our community is finally coming back to life, what is it going to mean when you’re putting small businesses out of business?”

Seaboard Solar proposes two arrays

Kevin O’Neill and Pedro Rodriguez of Seaboard Solar returned alongside Steve Wilson of Polar Engineering to review the construction of a proposed solar panel installation on Verplank Road.

The project will not be community solar, but according to O’Neill, it is an opportunity to offer the town a discount, similar to community solar. The power will be sold mainly to commercial buildings who can meet the usage requirements of the power, unlike individual homes.

The project consists of two solar arrays on the north and south ends of Verplank Road. Each array will be fenced in to create a buffer between the panels and the residential areas. They will be about nine feet tall from the ground.

“We moved onto Verplank [Road] because it was much more natural, and I’m not a big fan of having something like this being brought to our area,” said Greg Horstman, who is about three doors down from where the south project is being proposed.

According to O’Neill, he has spoken to residents across Verplank Road in order to explain the project in further detail.

Hinerwadel’s developer: Traffic impact minimal

The dialogue surrounding the proposed zone change for Hinerwadel’s Grove on Taft Road also continued at the meeting. The RC-1 zone change, if approved, will accommodate an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store, a grocery retailer and 23 residential buildings.

A traffic study was requested as part of the consideration process for approval from the board. A 630-page assessment was released on June 14. According to the study, traffic on Taft Road will not be drastically affected, even with the addition of a proposed traffic light.

“The traffic study, more or less, indicated that with all the improvements proposed, the conditions are either going to get better in some locations, and they’re going to be worse in some locations. Where they got worse, it wasn’t that much worse than what it is today,” said Jimmy Kimmel, of Two Plus Four Companies Management. “On average, conditions in all the intersections that were analyzed … are going to be similar to what they are today, if not better.”

Residents at the meeting expressed their doubts.

“Traffic is coming from the village, to Taft Road right now, to avoid Route 11 because they already have a bunch of lights. … This is going to cause so much craziness with the traffic in our area. Our side roads are going to be cut through so much more because people are going to try to avoid [all of the traffic] they can to get to where they need to get,” said resident Jim Warren.

The plan for residential buildings was also met with concern from the residents. The housing will host a range of rents, roughly between $620 and $1,200. It is intended to be a more affordable option for lower-income families.