CME Land Use Planning & Zoning Flashcards
6 cards from real CME practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 CME Land Use Planning & Zoning flashcards as text
What is the legal basis that grants local governments authority to enact zoning ordinances in the US?
Answer: State enabling legislation delegating police power to municipalities
Municipal zoning authority derives from state enabling legislation that delegates the state's police power to local governments to regulate land use for public health, safety, and welfare.
What is the 'comprehensive plan' (also called a general plan or master plan) in US municipal planning?
Answer: A long-range policy document guiding a community's physical, social, and economic development
A comprehensive plan is a non-binding policy document expressing a community's long-term vision and goals for land use, transportation, housing, and other elements.
What does a 'nonconforming use' mean in zoning law?
Answer: A land use that lawfully existed before current zoning regulations but does not comply with those regulations
Nonconforming uses are legally established uses that predate current zoning restrictions and may continue under amortization or vested rights doctrines.
What is the purpose of a 'variance' in the zoning process?
Answer: Grant relief from specific dimensional or use requirements when strict application causes undue hardship unique to the property
A variance provides a site-specific exception to zoning standards when unique physical conditions of the property create an undue hardship not shared by neighboring properties.
What is a 'conditional use permit' (or special use permit) in zoning?
Answer: Approval allowing a use not permitted by right in a zone if specific conditions mitigating impacts are met
A conditional use permit allows certain uses that may be compatible with a zone only under specified conditions designed to mitigate potential negative impacts on surrounding properties.
Under the US Supreme Court's Euclid v. Ambler Realty decision (1926), what was established about zoning?
Answer: Comprehensive zoning is a constitutional exercise of municipal police power
Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. established the constitutional validity of Euclidean (use-separated) zoning as a legitimate exercise of local police power.