A decades-old ordinance is preventing a local man from selling sweet treats on the streets.
Gary Blackwell wants children in Columbia to hear the sounds of an ice cream truck this summer, but an ordinance passed decades ago prohibits it.
The Board of Alderman is researching the topic after Blackwell approached city officials with his business idea during the May 1 meeting.
“I came in and spoke with the city clerk about having an ice truck and she said, ‘No, you can’t do that,’” Blackwell said. “I asked why, and she didn’t know. She mentioned something about the food trucks, but there’s a difference between a food truck and an ice cream truck.”
Mayor Justin McKenzie then mentioned the ordinance.
“We have an antique ordinance against it,” he said. “The ordinance prohibits ice cream trucks from the city limits of Columbia. For whatever reason, we have it on the books. It could be changed.”
According to The Columbian-Progress archives, aldermen passed an ordinance in 1946 “declaring the peddling of ice cream, flavored ices, fruits and prepared meat products in the city of Columbia, a public nuisance and a menace to the general health of the municipality.” The board repealed that ordinance in 1959, but it then passed another similar ordinance to again prohibit ice cream trucks in 1974.
Blackwell said he was about to make a purchase and needed to know the regulations.
“I’m glad I found out today because I was supposed to go to Chicago Tuesday and pick one up,” he said. “I’ve been looking for one for two months.”
McKenzie said the ordinance surprised him, and Ward 4 Alderman Mike Smith asked about the truck.
“Are you talking about one that rides around and plays songs and all that?” Smith asked.
Blackwell answered in the affirmative.
“All you sell is frozen foods,” he said. “It’s not a prepared food truck where you have to get the health department involved in it. In a prepared food truck, you’ve got to get the health department to approve things just like a restaurant. I’m talking about frozen product with freezers in the truck which would be operated on an inverter and kept frozen all the time.”
Blackwell asked how quickly the ordinance could be changed.
“I need to go to Chicago Tuesday,” he joked. “Can y’all do it a little faster?’
The statement brought laughs from the Board and Blackwell asked about coming back to the May 15 Board meeting. McKenzie said it was possible.
“We can pull the ordinance and research it,” he said.
Blackwell said he understands that there may be restrictions on major thoroughfares.
“You don’t just drive up and down Broad Street and stop in the middle of traffic,” he said. “I’d go places where there is not a lot of heavy traffic, and maybe go through the City Park and the Columbia Water Park. These would be places where there were a lot of kids.”
Alderman-at-Large Ed Hough recalled a similar business decades ago.
“We used to have a sno-ball truck around town,” he said. “That’s been within the last 20 or so years.”
Blackwell said he would return May 15, and McKenzie said City Attorney Lawrence Hahn would pull the ordinance and research it. The Board could possibly vote on the measure then.
