Most Villagers Can't Raise Chickens

After two years on the more tedious side of government work, the Sleepy Hollow Board of Trustees finally passed an updated, streamlined and web-friendly set of village codes.

According to Village Administrator Anthony Giaccio, this is probably the first time since the beginning of our village codes – most of whose many pages came in the ‘60s and ‘70s – that they’ve gone over the whole set comprehensively.

The goal was to, first and foremost, reformat the codes to “make them consistent with all codes in the state and accessible online,” Giaccio said.

In the process, the Village identified and scrapped many laws that conflicted with state laws, were redundant with state laws, or were just plain old.

In the antiquated category: Village Code has said that every bicycle needed to have a bell "or gong." That item was removed.

They also changed the wording of livestock law. Though this might strike some as irrelevant in this day and age, some citizens had expressed interest raising chickens on their property for fresh eggs. Alas, unless you live in the so-called R-1 area – the northeast corner where the Rockefellers roam – you cannot have livestock on your land. You also have to live on at least an acre of property.

There were a few controversial bumps along the way – the Architectural Review Board for one. The ARB was ultimately downsized, with more authority given instead to the village building inspector Sean McCarthy.

The tree policy was another point of debate. The tree permit policy was streamlined with a reduced threshold at which residents need a permit to cut down a tree. Citizens can cut without a permit within 10 feet of their house.

Finally, there was the issue of ball-playing being banned in the street, which after mixed debate, was ultimately dropped.

“It was taken out of the code because other codes can be used to enforce it, such as noise ordinance, nuisance, obstruction of right of way,” Giaccio said.

The codes in full aren't available online yet, but will be "forthcoming," he said.

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