AICP - American Institute of Certified Planners Functional Areas of Practice Questions and Answers — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A city wants to fund public infrastructure upgrades in a blighted downtown district to attract private investment. The proposed financing method involves capturing the anticipated increase in property tax revenue that will be generated by new development within the district to repay bonds issued for the improvements. This economic development tool is known as:
- A Special Assessment District
- Tax Increment Financing (TIF) (Correct answer)
- A Business Improvement District (BID)
- A General Obligation Bond
Correct answer: Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a public financing method used for redevelopment and community improvement projects. It works by capturing the future increases in property tax revenues (the 'tax increment') from a designated district to finance the public improvements that spurred the new development.
Question 2: A rural township is experiencing development pressure on its prime agricultural lands. To protect these lands, the township implements a program that allows landowners in a designated agricultural 'sending area' to sell their unused development potential to developers who can then build at a higher density in a designated 'receiving area' near the town center. This land use tool is called:
- Purchase of Development Rights (PDR)
- Agricultural Zoning
- Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) (Correct answer)
- Conservation Easement
Correct answer: Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)
Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) is a market-based tool that redirects development from areas targeted for conservation (sending areas) to areas planned for growth (receiving areas). Landowners in the sending area are compensated by selling their development rights to developers, who use them to increase density in the receiving area.
Question 3: A city ordinance requires that for any new residential development with over 20 units, 10% of the units must be deed-restricted as affordable for households earning below 80% of the area median income. In exchange, developers may be offered incentives like permission to build more units than the base zoning allows. This regulatory strategy is best described as:
- Inclusionary Zoning (Correct answer)
- Rent Control
- A Housing Linkage Fee
- A Community Land Trust
Correct answer: Inclusionary Zoning
Inclusionary Zoning (also called inclusionary housing) refers to municipal regulations that require a certain percentage of units in a new housing development to be affordable for low- to moderate-income households. These programs are often paired with incentives like density bonuses to offset the cost to developers.
Question 4: A planning commission is reviewing a proposal for a new industrial facility. The site is located in a low-income community of color that already has a high concentration of polluting industries and waste facilities. Residents are concerned about cumulative air quality impacts and health risks. A decision to deny the permit based on the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, and to prevent the disproportionate burden of negative environmental consequences on one community, would be an application of which principle?
- Smart Growth
- New Urbanism
- Environmental Justice (Correct answer)
- Sustainable Development
Correct answer: Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. A key goal is to ensure that no group of people bears a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, governmental, and commercial operations.
Question 5: A city is redesigning a major commercial corridor to improve safety and accessibility for all users. The project involves reducing traffic lanes, adding protected bicycle lanes, widening sidewalks, installing high-visibility crosswalks, and improving bus shelters. This transportation planning approach is best known as:
- Access Management
- Traffic Demand Management (TDM)
- Complete Streets (Correct answer)
- Context Sensitive Design (CSD)
Correct answer: Complete Streets
The Complete Streets approach involves planning, designing, and operating roads to enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders of all ages and abilities. The described elements are all characteristic features of a Complete Streets project.
Question 6: A coastal city adopts a new regulation prohibiting all construction on beachfront parcels to preserve the dune system and protect against sea-level rise. A property owner who had intended to build a house on their vacant lot files a lawsuit, claiming the regulation has eliminated all economically viable use of their land and that they are owed compensation. This legal challenge is primarily based on the concept of a:
- Procedural Due Process Violation
- Regulatory Taking (Correct answer)
- Nuisance Abatement
- Spot Zoning
Correct answer: Regulatory Taking
A regulatory taking occurs when a government regulation restricts the use of private property to such a degree that it effectively 'takes' the property's value without formal condemnation, potentially requiring compensation under the Fifth Amendment. A claim that regulation denies all economically viable use of land, as in the Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council case, is a classic example.
AICP - American Institute of Certified Planners Functional Areas of Practice Questions and Answers
A city wants to fund public infrastructure upgrades in a blighted downtown district to attract private investment.
The proposed financing method involves capturing the anticipated increase in property tax revenue that will be generated by new development within the district to repay bonds issued for the improvements.
This economic development tool is known as: