Cicero councilor cited for keeping livestock in residential neighborhood
Ashley Hogan’s livestock citation turned a Cicero zoning case into a test of whether town officials will enforce the same rules on their own.
When a town councilor is cited for keeping livestock in a residential neighborhood, Cicero is left with a fairness question that reaches beyond one property: do the zoning rules apply the same way to Ashley Hogan as they would to any other homeowner? Hogan, a Republican elected in 2023 and listed by the Town of Cicero as one of its councilors, was cited for having farm animals in a residential area in violation of local zoning laws, town officials said.
The case sits inside Cicero’s own code-enforcement structure. The town says its Zoning & Planning office handles code enforcement issues, and that Steven Procopio is director of code enforcement. Cicero’s Code Book covers zoning, buildings, dog control and licensing, fireworks, firearms possession, traffic violations, fencing and more, so the livestock citation lands in a broader set of neighborhood rules that govern how land is used in town.
That local authority meets a familiar New York land-use tension. The state Department of Agriculture and Markets says municipalities use zoning and planning laws to regulate land use, but conflicts with farm operations can arise, and Section 305-a is designed to protect farm operations in agricultural districts from local laws that unreasonably restrict them. Cicero tells residents that zoning classifications can be found on a tax bill or on the town zoning map, and the town says zoning rules apply to all real property.
For neighbors, the practical stakes are straightforward. If livestock are not allowed in that part of Cicero, town officials will have to decide how the property comes into compliance and whether enforcement moves forward in the same way it would for an ordinary resident. The town has not publicly identified the exact animals, the parcel address or a hearing outcome, but the citation already puts the town board, code enforcement staff and Hogan in the middle of a local test of consistency that could shape how Cicero handles similar complaints going forward.
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