Corn silo approved for tortilla-making business

Mathis Winkler

Thursday, Aug. 16, 2001 | 9:52 a.m.

A store that caters to the Hispanic community got the green light Wednesday to build a 20-foot grain silo to store corn for tortilla-making.

The silo, approved unanimously by the North Las Vegas City Council, will allow Mercado del Pueblo to double its tortilla production.

"We don't have enough tortillas," Tim Ayala, the store's representative, said. The store's tortilla makers currently produce about 1,000 tortillas every three days, he said.

The silo will also free up space and reduce the number of corn deliveries to the store, Ayala said.

"Tortillas is the main thing for Hispanic people," he said during a tour of the store Wednesday afternoon. "They eat tortillas with everything."

Council members at first did not favor the addition near the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard North and Pecos Road. It doesn't fit the area's commercial zoning, and city officials and planning commissioners had recommended against it.

"My gut instinct would say this belongs in an industrial or agricultural area," Councilwoman Stephanie Smith said. "I don't think this is the kind of use that we want here."

Smith added that the silo's potential infestation with rodents worried her.

Besides, she said, "I'm from the Midwest and we have silos that explode."

Mayor Michael Montandon wondered if the silo and a resulting increase in tortilla production would lead Mercado del Pueblo to sell tortillas elsewhere. That would be illegal, since the store is not in an industrial zone of the city, he said.

"I don't understand why you need to store several tons of corn," Montandon said. He later reversed his position after realizing he had confused Mercado del Pueblo with another, much smaller store.

Tim Ayala, who represented store owners at the meeting, said his clients just wanted to make enough tortillas for their mainly Hispanic customers.

The argument convinced council members and Mercado del Pueblo's new silo probably will be installed by December, Ayala said.