City Council will vote next week on whether to abolish a rule that keeps food trucks from operating within a football field of a restaurant without permission from its owner.

The rule, on the books since 1983, was the subject of a lawsuit filed against the city last month by four food truck vendors. Its repeal has the support of the San Antonio Restaurant Association, executive director Amanda Garcia said.

“We didn’t have any opposition to them removing the rule,” said Garcia, who recently discussed it with city officials. “It’s our position that they should be able to operate and make a living.”

The Metropolitan Health District also recommends repealing the rule, which council will consider at its Nov. 19 meeting.

Food trucks have proliferated in San Antonio in recent years, said Jon Lindskog, president of the San Antonio Food Truck Association. The trend shows up in state data: The number of sales tax permits issued in Bexar County for mobile food services — which includes food trucks as well businesses such as hot dog stands and ice cream trucks — rose to 188 last year from 46 in 2010, according to the Texas Comptroller’s Office.

“There’s been a tremendous explosion of what I would say are upscale or chef-driven food trucks,” said Lindskog, who owns the Cheesy Jane’s restaurant at 4600 Broadway and two food trucks with the same name.

The trucks have left their mark on the Alamo City, spawning events such as the Food Truck Throwdown and Pet Adoption. The city’s first food truck park, Boardwalk on Bulverde, opened in 2011. Local vendors created the food truck association a year later, and Mobile Cuisine Magazine named San Antonio the best city to start a food truck business in 2014.

Other cities have similar laws keeping food trucks away from brick-and-mortar restaurants. Some cities have enacted the laws in recent years out of pressure from restaurants to rein in the growing food truck industry, according to media reports.

San Antonio’s ordinance, which carries a potential $2,000 fine, isn’t strictly enforced, restaurateurs said. Most conflicts have happened when a bar owner complains about a food truck late at night, Lindskog said.

Louis Barrios, who manages Los Barrios, La Hacienda de Los Barrios and Viola’s Ventanas, said he doesn’t shoo food truck vendors when they’re within 300 feet of his restaurants. He doesn’t see them as a threat to his business; customers who go to brick-and-mortar restaurants are looking for something different from what food trucks offer, he said.

“I don’t think food trucks help or hurt restaurants,” Barrios said. “I’m friendly to them. I say, ‘Hey, knock yourself out.’”