Utah's second-most-populous city is lining up to be the next municipality to ban smoking in public parks. Salt Lake City, Murray, Midvale, Logan, South Jordan and others already have snuffed out cigarettes with similar ordinances.

"I wish that we had done it earlier," West Valley City Mayor Dennis Nordfelt said Thursday. "The harmful effects of secondhand smoke are well-documented."

But not everyone is pleased.

"It's ridiculous that they're trying to pass that," said Nikki Mortensen, who works at Smokey's Discount Cigarettes, 3630 W. 3500 South.

Mortensen likes to walk across the street to Granger Park to smoke and eat during her lunch breaks.

"Most smokers think about [who is nearby] and will walk away from large groups and children," she said. "They don't do it at a playground."

They certainly won't if the City Council approves the ban Tuesday after a public hearing scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The ordinance would make smoking in the city's 22 parks - including a couple of newly opened ones, and other municipal recreation areas such as trails, baseball diamonds and soccer fields - an infraction, punishable by a $25 fine.

City golf courses West Ridge and StoneBridge would be exempt from the ban.

Passage of the proposal would mean smokers, already barred by state law from smoking indoors in publicly accessible places, would have fewer spots to light up.

"If they want to use my taxpaying dollars for these [smoke-free] parks, then give me my tax money back," complains Dennis Eldredge, a West Valley City resident who manages Smoker Friendly, 3460 S. Redwood Road (1700 West). "They're taxing me for something I can't use if I'm a smoker."

But Nordfelt is hoping most smokers will be willing to douse their cigarettes in parks for the public good.

"The sense of community would require that they smoke in a place that would not be harmful to a fellow member of the community," he said.

Kathy Baebler, manager of the Salt Lake Valley Health Department's tobacco-prevention program, applauded West Valley City for looking at a smoking ordinance.

"There's no safe level of secondhand smoke. Salt Lake City went first, and then it's just been kind of a domino effect throughout the county," she said. "This is a nationwide trend."

Besides benefiting public health, Baebler said limiting cigarettes in public areas also reduces litter from cigarette butts and lessens chances that children will perceive smoking as a "social norm."

Exposure to secondhand smoke has been linked to health problems such as lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, headaches and asthma, according to the health department.

rwinters@sltrib.com