Town board approves moratorium on peddler’s and solicitor’s permits

The Warwick Town Board unanimously approved a new local law placing a moratorium on the issuance of peddler’s and solicitor’s permits and licenses at the May 14 meeting. The law, known as Introductory Local Law No. 1 of 2026, was passed following a public hearing held earlier that evening.

According to the write up of the law, the board found “the standards prescribed for these licenses do not adequately address the safety concerns that have come to the board’s attention including but not limited to, a lack of criminal history searches/background checks, the ability to solicit and/or peddle on private property, and no current mechanism by which, at present, for residents to ‘opt out,’ of receiving solicitors or peddlers on their private property.”

According to Supervisor Jesse Dwyer, the intent of the law is to prevent for-profit solicitation for residents of Warwick. The new local law does not prevent not-for-profit entities such as Boy and Girl Scouts, or constitutionally protected political organizers or religious entities from going door to door.

“What we are trying to do is prevent is for-profit companies from going door-to-door to people’s homes, trying to buy their homes, trying to sell goods, trying to sell solar...Those types of activities, once adopted, will be prohibited in the Town of Warwick,” stated Supervisor Dwyer.

Another public hearing was held at the start of the meeting on the submission of potential community development HUD grant project proposals. The board held the hearing for residents to submit and discuss any potential projects, but no proposals were suggested from residents. The board will be submitting a $275,000 proposal to the grant program to add new ADA compliant bathrooms and a first aid station at the Mountain Lake Park pool facility.

Dwyer addresses ongoing construction

During his reports to the board, Supervisor Dwyer addressed the ongoing construction throughout the Town of Warwick.

“It’s all for a good purpose, for a good reason. They’re trying to rebuild the infrastructure throughout Warwick, provide new sidewalks in our downtowns and better roads for us to travel on. It’s going to get more painful before it gets better,” said the Supervisor.

Dwyer also addressed that the construction and road work may be impacting local businesses throughout the town and urged residents to continue to support them, stating, “Please support your local businesses as best as you possibly can during this time, because I’m sure this is quite a struggle for them to get by.”

Battery storage, grant application for water meter replacement discussed

Dwyer also addressed the potential of a proposed battery storage ordinance law, which has been directed by Councilman Russ Kowal. The law plans to prohibit large-scale battery storage facilities within the Town of Warwick. Supervisor Dwyer expects to present the plan to the Town Board either at the next board meeting or the one following, and then the law will be presented at a public hearing for residents to comment and give feedback.

The board is also applying for a Green Initiative grant program to install and replace water meters throughout Warwick’s nine water districts.

“It’s critical that each of those households and commercial businesses are metered, and unfortunately, the small amount of users we have that are on meters, those meters are outdated,” stated the Supervisor.

Coffee With A Supervisor

Supervisor Dwyer spoke on the success of one of his newest programs, Coffee With A Supervisor. The program provides an easy-access way for residents to meet with the various department heads of the town in order to bring up concerns or ask questions that they may not be able to in Town Hall.

“It’s been a great way for not only department heads to finally meet each other...it’s been a great way to collaborate and work on different initiatives. It’s really been a valuable experience to see residents being able to go to a location where you have a captive audience of all the department heads, myself, the Town Board members, and you can ask questions, get answers to things, and really work to solve problems,” said Supervisor Dwyer. “We plan on doing this every single month indefinitely, it’s not a four-and-done.”

The next Coffee With A Supervisor will be in the Village of Florida on June 16.

The Town of Warwick opened up applications for the Warwick Architectural Review Board and announced that they have received several applications and are conducting interviews for potential members. The committee will be selected and appointed during the next town board meeting on May 29.