There’s a great piece in Port City Daily today about regulations that are restricting the ability of food truck owners to operate in Carolina Beach.  The crux of the issue?

Food truck owners feel Carolina Beach’s municipal code was written to intentionally limit and restrict their business on the island, while Carolina Beach’s senior planner says there was nothing intentional about it. In fact, the code that directs food truck business wasn’t written with food trucks in mind.

“The itinerary merchant (code) was guided while we were accommodating a certain type of business that wasn’t a food truck,” said Jeremy Hardison, senior planner for Carolina Beach.

And that’s the problem.  Regulations almost always seem to catch something they weren’t meant to, or create an unfortunate loophole, or become outdated and limit innovation.  Just like this one in Carolina Beach.

Which is why local governments should be careful about creating them in the first place.