WEST VALLEY CITY - Customers crowd around a trailer labeled "El Jaripeo No. 2" off Redwood Road as they wait to order "tres de carnitas" or "three pork tacos."

Switching from English to Spanish to take his clients' orders, Pedro Santiago piles pork, beef or chicken on stacks of small corn tortillas.

Taco stands like Santiago's have become the latest bull's-eye in West Valley City's quest to clean up its image.

On Tuesday, the City Council discussed the issue. Next week, a public hearing will be held and the City Council will decide whether to increase regulation on temporary food vendors or ban food carts entirely, as some council members suggested.

In March, the council voted to suspend giving any more licenses for food carts during the next six months and commissioned a study on possible regulations. Current codes have few standards, said Planner Jody Knapp on Tuesday, and the city was seeing an influx of applications for taco stands after Salt Lake City made revisions to its code.

But, Santiago doesn't see the carts causing any harm. In fact, "this is what gives culture to this country," said the Los Angeles transplant.

The proposed regulations, which wouldn't apply to festivals or other special events that bring in vendors, would restrict food carts to business parks, manufacturing and some commercial zones, prohibit using tarps to cover the stands, as well as ban any tables or chairs. The ordinance would also restrict the number of food carts and trailers to 15 and require vendors to reapply for a yearly license - though none of the 23 vendors currently stationed in West Valley City parking lots would be evicted if they met the new requirements.

Councilman Joel Coleman wondered whether the cap mattered, since "if we regulate them so they look respectable . . . it would get rid of the blight we see in some."

Other council members suggested restricting the stands to only the city center and international marketplace, which are two future developments.

Councilman Mike Winder wondered whether the regulations would be enforceable.

"That didn't bother you last week," Councilwoman Carolynn Burt replied.

Burt was the lone voice against an ordinance last week that limited signs on storefronts. That vote would be difficult to enforce, she had said, plus it restricted free enterprise. But as to the taco carts and other stands - "I would be OK with not having any of them," she said.

mariav@sltrib.com

What's next

A public hearing on a new ordinance to regulate food carts will be held during the City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 3600 S. Constitution Blvd.