West Valley City, UT Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Section 4-1-128, "Smoking in Parks and Recreational Areas," makes it "unlawful for any person to commit an act of smoking, as that term is defined in the Utah Criminal Code, in any park or recreational area open to the public, except in the designated parking facilities for those areas." Because the ordinance borrows the definition of "smoking" from the Utah Criminal Code rather than writing its own, the prohibition covers whatever the state criminal code defines as smoking and applies wherever that state definition is met, rather than any locally-drafted definition.

The section narrows what counts as a covered "recreational area": "For the purposes of this part, 'recreational area' shall be defined as ball diamonds, soccer fields, bleachers and trails." That definition is deliberately specific, so the smoking ban clearly reaches organized sports facilities and trail corridors inside City parks, in addition to parks generally, while carving out one express exception: the designated parking facilities serving those parks and recreational areas remain open to smoking.

The penalty is set directly in this section rather than through the Chapter 4-1 general compliance clause that governs most other park violations: "Any person or party who violates the provisions of this Chapter shall be guilty of an infraction, which shall carry a fine of $25.00." That flat $25.00 infraction fine, adopted by Ordinance No. 07-64 on October 23, 2007, is lighter than the class B misdemeanor that Section 4-1-101 imposes for most other Chapter 4-1 park violations, such as camping, unauthorized fires, or being present past the § 4-1-126 closing hour.