Photo by Amber Wilkie

D.C has always lived with the reality that Virginia could well steal away its business and residents. In recent debates over tax policy, local legislators have admitted that when it comes to everything from capital gains taxes to ease of setting up a business, D.C. lags behind its southern neighbor. Well, those advantages may now encourage the city’s food trucks to head straight across the Potomac.

Clarendon-Courthouse-Rosslyn Patch reports that Arlington County is working on new regulations that would make it easier for food truck to operate, unlike a proposed set of D.C. regulations that food truck owners say would push them out of the most profitable parts of the city:

If proposed new regulations for food vendors in Arlington County take effect, starting a food truck in the county could be easier. The changes to the county’s code relating to food trucks would extend the amount of time vendors can stay in one place from one hour to two and will allow for more flexibility where vendors can set up.

The county is hosting a public hearing April 20 to discuss the proposed changes to make the county more food truck friendly.

If passed, Arlington could be the most headache-free option for rolling out a food truck in the DC-metro area.

Arlington’s new rules would allow foods trucks more places to park and would let them remain there for longer periods of time; the county already revised its rules once to allow trucks to remain in one spot for an hour.

D.C. has been debating new regulations for the better part of a year, and the most recent iteration would create certain vending zones where trucks could easily park and vend. Spots in those zones would be allocated by lottery, though, leading the Food Truck Association to complain that any truck not lucky enough to get a spot would be exiled to far less profitable parts of town. Public comment for the rules closes today at 5 p.m., and the D.C. Council is holding a hearing on them on April 30.

Obviously, there’s a reality check to be had: not all of D.C.’s food trucks will decamp for the Old Dominion if D.C. passes its new rules. Still, food truck owners are at least saying that D.C. diners will enjoy food trucks less often than they do today.