AICP Land Use Law and Regulations 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal statute requires recipients of federal funding to take affirmative steps to 'affirmatively further fair housing' (AFFH) in their land use programs?
- The National Environmental Policy Act
- The Community Development Block Grant Act
- The Fair Housing Act of 1968 (Correct answer)
- The Americans with Disabilities Act
Correct answer: The Fair Housing Act of 1968
The Fair Housing Act requires jurisdictions receiving HUD funding to affirmatively further fair housing by examining and addressing barriers to housing choice.
Question 2: A city denies a rezoning petition and the applicant argues the denial was arbitrary. Under what standard of review will a court typically evaluate the legislative decision to deny a rezoning?
- Strict scrutiny
- Intermediate scrutiny
- Rational basis (Correct answer)
- De novo review
Correct answer: Rational basis
Legislative land use decisions like rezonings are reviewed under the deferential rational basis standard—the action must be rationally related to a legitimate government interest.
Question 3: What is a 'floating zone' in land use planning?
- A zoning district that applies only to areas near water bodies
- A zoning classification that exists in the ordinance but is not mapped until a qualifying project applies (Correct answer)
- A temporary overlay zone applied during environmental review
- A zone that adjusts its boundaries based on market conditions
Correct answer: A zoning classification that exists in the ordinance but is not mapped until a qualifying project applies
A floating zone is established in the zoning ordinance with set standards but is not mapped onto any land until a landowner applies and meets the requirements.
Question 4: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a local zoning ordinance that prohibits group homes for people with disabilities in residential zones is most likely:
- Valid as a legitimate exercise of police power to protect residential character
- A violation of the Fair Housing Act's reasonable accommodation requirement (Correct answer)
- Permissible if a use permit process is available
- Subject only to state anti-discrimination law, not federal law
Correct answer: A violation of the Fair Housing Act's reasonable accommodation requirement
The Fair Housing Act (and ADA) require municipalities to make reasonable accommodations in zoning rules to allow people with disabilities equal housing opportunities.
Question 5: A planning commission approves a site plan with a condition requiring the developer to build off-site road improvements. The developer challenges the condition. Under Dolan v. City of Tigard, the city must demonstrate:
- That the road improvement is consistent with the comprehensive plan
- A reasonable relationship between the condition and the proposed development's impacts
- Rough proportionality between the required dedication and the development's projected traffic impacts (Correct answer)
- That the condition was reviewed by the state transportation department
Correct answer: Rough proportionality between the required dedication and the development's projected traffic impacts
Dolan requires the government to make an individualized determination that the required exaction is roughly proportional in nature and extent to the development's impact.
Question 6: Which legal doctrine prevents a local government from applying new, more restrictive zoning regulations to eliminate an existing use that was lawful when established?
- Spot zoning prohibition
- Nonconforming use protection (Correct answer)
- Vested rights doctrine
- Inverse condemnation
Correct answer: Nonconforming use protection
Nonconforming use protections allow lawfully established uses to continue operating even after zoning changes render them noncompliant, though most ordinances limit their expansion.
Question 7: A state legislature passes a law that strips local governments of the authority to regulate the siting of wireless telecommunications facilities based on environmental effects of radio frequency emissions. This law is an example of:
- Federal preemption under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Correct answer)
- A taking of local police power without compensation
- An unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority
- Spot zoning at the state level
Correct answer: Federal preemption under the Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 expressly preempts local zoning decisions based on RF emission concerns, provided the facility meets FCC standards.
AICP Land Use Law and Regulations 5
Which federal statute requires recipients of federal funding to take affirmative steps to 'affirmatively further fair housing' (AFFH) in their land use programs?