Food truck operators will be able to expand their opportunities in San Bernardino County after the Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to ease up on restrictions for mobile food facilities.

The board unanimously agreed to amend a county ordinance to establish a new category of "hot food truck events" that would allow food trucks to operate at sites other than temporary special events such as outdoor festivals, circuses, rodeos, etc.

San Bernardino and Riverside counties are the only two counties in the state that prohibit food trucks from doing business anywhere other than at special events.

Supervisors Janice Rutherford and Brad Mitzelfelt pushed to allow food trucks to operate anywhere in the county, but they were outnumbered.

Supervisor Neil Derry said his biggest concern was the potential competition food trucks could have on brick and mortar restaurants that are heavily invested in the communities they serve and whose sales tax revenue stays in city and county coffers.

Though Mitzelfelt felt the alternative was too restrictive, he said he would vote in favor of it because it was a step in the right direction.

Rutherford said that while lifting restrictions would put the county on a learning curve in terms of regulating and enforcing food truck operations, she said it is a challenge 56 other counties in California have tackled.

"We're not reinventing the wheel here," she said.