CME CME Land Use Planning & Zoning 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the legal basis that grants local governments authority to enact zoning ordinances in the US?
- Federal Zoning Enabling Act
- State enabling legislation delegating police power to municipalities (Correct answer)
- US Constitution's Commerce Clause
- County charter authority alone
Correct 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.
Question 2: What is the 'comprehensive plan' (also called a general plan or master plan) in US municipal planning?
- The legally binding zoning ordinance text
- A long-range policy document guiding a community's physical, social, and economic development (Correct answer)
- An engineering design manual for infrastructure
- The capital improvement program budget
Correct 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.
Question 3: What does a 'nonconforming use' mean in zoning law?
- An illegal structure built without permits
- A land use that lawfully existed before current zoning regulations but does not comply with those regulations (Correct answer)
- A use that requires a conditional use permit
- A property with multiple permitted uses
Correct 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.
Question 4: What is the purpose of a 'variance' in the zoning process?
- Change the zoning classification of a parcel
- Grant relief from specific dimensional or use requirements when strict application causes undue hardship unique to the property (Correct answer)
- Approve a large planned development
- Amend the comprehensive plan
Correct 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.
Question 5: What is a 'conditional use permit' (or special use permit) in zoning?
- An outright prohibition of a use in a zone
- Approval allowing a use not permitted by right in a zone if specific conditions mitigating impacts are met (Correct answer)
- A building permit for construction
- A subdivision plat approval
Correct 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.
Question 6: Under the US Supreme Court's Euclid v. Ambler Realty decision (1926), what was established about zoning?
- Zoning ordinances are unconstitutional takings
- Comprehensive zoning is a constitutional exercise of municipal police power (Correct answer)
- Federal government controls local land use
- Zoning can never restrict industrial uses
Correct 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.
CME CME Land Use Planning & Zoning 1
What is the legal basis that grants local governments authority to enact zoning ordinances in the US?