Sundae drives: Aurora repeals 65-year prohibition on ice cream trucks

All right, Aurora residents, we’ve got quite the scoop for you: The city issued its first ice cream truck license in 65 years on Friday afternoon, just in time for the holiday weekend.

The Aurora City Council has decided to stop giving ice cream trucks the cold shoulder, voting this week to repeal a prohibition on ice trucks, first implemented decades ago as a noise-control measure. Although the council hasn’t had its final vote on the issue, the proposal received unanimous support. City officials and Council member Dustin Zvonek, who sponsored the repeal, gathered to give Ice Cream Wagon, the first applicant, its license.

The new ordinance includes guardrails such as regulations for safety, time restrictions from 10 a.m. to sundown and only allowing the trucks to drive around streets that are 25 miles or less at 10 miles per hour.

Zvonek said he’s heard mixed reviews about the change, with some older residents concerned about noise, but “the thing I’ve heard the most is surprise that for 65 years, they were banned in Aurora, and even some residents here who swear they’ve seen them in the city, which I said ‘as intertwined as Aurora is with Denver or even unincorporated Arapahoe County that has an Aurora address, that makes sense.’”

Thankfully, on his way to the Moorehead Recreation Center, the ice cream driver avoided blowing a tire on any rocky road, but he did get stopped by some kids for some sweet treats.