Jingle Brothers ice cream vendor Lewis McClung waits as Morgan Villegas, 6 decides which ice cream treat to purchase in a North Canton, Ohio, neighborhood Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005. Aurora officials are considering lifting a ban on the trucks in Aurora. (AP Photo/David Massey)
AURORA | With summer heat comes frozen treats, but for decades, ice cream truck drivers have been ordered to steer clear of Aurora’s corner of the metroplex.
City law officially prohibits ice cream, candy and gum from being sold out of vehicles on the streets of Aurora, referring to the boxy trucks and their off-kilter jingles as a “nuisance.”
The freeze on ice cream trucks may soon be lifted, however, as City Council member Dustin Zvonek announced plans this week to include the law as part of a package of regulations earmarked for repeal by a “red tape reduction” committee.
“When you hear it, you’re like, ‘There’s no way that’s real,’” Zvonek said of the treat truck ban. “But it’s a good example of a regulation that’s put in place, and it kind of languishes on the books, and there’s been no real process to take a look at it.”
Aurora’s ban has been in place since 1957, according to city spokesman Michael Brannen. Zvonek said a city staffer brought the ban to the attention of the committee, which started meeting and holding public hearings earlier this year to identify burdensome regulations and city processes that could be scaled back.
Zvonek said he didn’t know how Aurora’s ban came to be, except that the law labeled the trucks as a nuisance. The law also prohibits “bells, whistles, sirens, music, horns or any other noisemaking device” from being used to attract customers to commercial vehicles.
Ice cream truck bans have come and gone in communities across the U.S., as parents have long complained about the noise and the risks of children running into traffic.
Just last year, Connecticut passed a package of regulations concerning ice cream trucks that include limits on where the trucks can park. The changes were known as “Tristan’s Law” in honor of a 10-year-old boy who was struck and killed by a car in 2020 after buying ice cream.
The 1957 ordinance which initiated Aurora’s ban said children chasing after trucks had created “hazardous conditions” and that the prohibition was “necessary to control injury, death or accident.” The ordinance also referenced a citizen petition and said the law change had earned the support of police.
From Zvonek’s perspective, Aurora’s ban is just one example of overzealous regulators “stifling business.” He said he has been contacted by multiple ice cream truck operators complaining about similar bans in their own cities since announcing during the City Council’s April 25 meeting that he wanted to “free the ice cream trucks.”
Kevin Hougen, president and CEO of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, said he was unaware of the ban until Zvonek brought it up and that he would “absolutely” support it being rolled back.
“Especially in today’s environment where so many people are delivering things every day, are we going to outlaw Amazon or UPS next?,” Hougen asked. “Yeah, those trucks don’t play music or things like that, but I just can’t imagine police enforcing that.”
Zvonek said the red tape reduction committee will meet next on May 17 to discuss the regulations and processes it may ask the council to repeal. He said the question of whether to repeal the ban may come before the council as a whole after the committee meeting.
