Spreading Halloween spirit around the village

With Halloween less than a month away, the Warwick Village Board spent a portion of its Sept. 3 meeting discussing ways to encourage trick-or-treaters to visit less-frequented parts of the village.

Trustee Mary Collura commented that some residents, whose homes were included as part of the village’s Halloween tour, did not receive as many trick-or-treaters as anticipated. During Halloween, most celebrants tend to congregate in the neighborhood around Orchard Street, which has been known to get more than 1000 trick-or-treaters each year.

Mayor Michael Newhard suggested creating a Halloween map highlighting other great neighborhoods in the village to get scared and get streets. Collura added that a scavenger hunt could also encourage people to visit other areas on Halloween.

Collura acknowledged the appreciation people have for the Orchard Street area on Halloween, while also pointing to the impact on the neighborhood. Residents have to not only contend with the costs of providing candy for the many visitors, but also with street closures during the holiday.

“My concern is now that Halloween this year is on a Friday and last year I think was the busiest that I’ve ever seen it and it was like on a Wednesday. So now it’s kind of like all right this is going to be intense,” she said. “We should be talking about it because it involves the police department; it involves the DPW workers to have them close the streets. And if it’s something that impacting a neighborhood more so than another neighborhood it definitely is worth our attention and figuring it out.”

Along with brainstorming ways to spread the Halloween spirit to different parts of the village, the board discussed ideas such as signage and lights to improve pedestrian safety.

Storage tank and a capital account

Also during the meeting, the village approved the replacement of its reservoir storage tank with the construction of two 600,000-gallon water storage tanks, which will be connected to the existing water system. The village has applied for a New York State Water Infrastructure Improvement Act grant to partly offset the cost of the project, which is estimated at $3.6 million.

Trustee Carly Foster said that BRIC funding may also be available to support improvements to the water infrastructure.

The board also approved the establishment of a capital account to support its plan to acquire land adjoining its reservoir property. The account will be initially funded with a New York State DEC water quality improvement program grant of $288,150 and a transfer from the water fund of $96,050.

Newhouse thanked the building department for its efforts in ensuring the village could maintain its status as a Pro-Housing Community for 2025. According to Newhouse, this distinction is a requirement for many grants.