Village of Warwick hires planner for Veteran's Memorial Park

Warwick — The Village of Warwick has hired a park planner to come up with a five-year plan for Veteran’s Memorial Park, the largest of the seven parks in the village. Memorial Park is home to the Warwick Little League, the Warwick Youth Football League, the over-35 softball league, as well as the home base for the firefighters’ carnival each year. “We realized Memorial Park needed some work,” said Trustee Eileen Patterson, liaison to the parks and recreation from the Village Board. “There is a section of bleachers that aren’t used anymore because they need repair. The village has been working on the great lawn, trying to cultivate it. We’ve just moved the pavilion. We just thought it would be a good time to come up with a plan.” With a $10,000 grant from Orange County, the village hired Jon Jadrosich from Long Island, who has done work with the New York City Parks and Recreation Department. Jadrosich impressed Patterson from their first meeting. “We interviewed four different planners,” said Patterson. “This guy had such energy and enthusiasm. We were just lucky he had the lowest bid.” His bid was $17,500. Jadrosich begins his work next week. The planning project should take between three and four months. The goal is not to turn the 56-acre Memorial Park into a sports complex, but to encourage passive recreation for all residents. “We won’t have any more fields than are already there,” said Patterson. “Some possibilities include a senior exercise track and a walking trail around the park. Right now, the road goes straight up through the middle of the park to nowhere. We’ll possibly look at that. It would be great to have the walking trail loop around and maybe go to the new library site.” The village has six other parks, including Stanley-Deming Park, Railroad Green, Hallowed Green, Pond Hill Park, Lewis Woodlands and Southern Lane Park. These parks are not part of this project. The village will be meeting soon with those Patterson calls “stakeholders” in the park, namely the veterans themselves, the fire department, library officials and the leagues that use the park. Patterson noted there is a plan for the park at the Village Hall that dates back to the 1920s. On that plan, the village planned to dam up the Wawayanda and create a swimming hole in summer and a skating pond in winter. The parkland was bought by a private group of residents, the Defense League, in 1919, as a “suitable war memorial” to honor those who fought in World War I. In 1936, village residents approved a referendum to accept the land from the Defense League as a village park by a vote of 190-92.