Licensing & Permitting Flashcards

A municipality's conditional use permit includes a condition requiring the applicant to dedicate a strip of land for a sidewalk. This condition is legally valid only if it:

Answer: Has an essential nexus to a legitimate government interest and is roughly proportional to the permit's impact

Under Nollan and Dolan, permit conditions that require dedication of property must satisfy essential nexus and rough proportionality tests to avoid an unconstitutional taking.

A municipality requires all massage therapists to obtain a local license in addition to their state license. This dual licensing is generally lawful when:

Answer: State law does not preempt local regulation of the occupation

Dual licensing at the local level is permissible where the state has not preempted the field or explicitly prohibited additional local requirements.

Which of the following best describes a 'permit by right'?

Answer: A permit issued ministerially when an application meets all objective requirements without discretionary review

A permit by right is issued without discretionary review as long as the applicant satisfies all objective criteria established in the code.

A municipality's zoning board denies a variance application. The applicant may seek judicial review under what legal standard?

Answer: Arbitrary and capricious or substantial evidence standard, deferring to the board's expertise

Courts generally review zoning board decisions deferentially, overturning them only if arbitrary, capricious, or unsupported by substantial evidence in the record.

A home-rule municipality may enact a local licensing ordinance that is stricter than the state minimum standard, unless:

Answer: State law expressly prohibits stricter local standards or completely occupies the regulatory field

Home-rule municipalities may exceed state minimums unless the state has expressly or implicitly preempted more stringent local regulation.

The concept of 'vested rights' in permitting means that an applicant has a protected right to complete a project when:

Answer: The applicant has obtained a valid permit and made substantial expenditures in reliance on it

Vested rights arise when a permit has been validly issued and the holder has made substantial good-faith expenditures in reliance before a subsequent regulation change.

A city council member who owns a restaurant votes on an ordinance expanding outdoor dining permit hours. This scenario most likely raises a concern under:

Answer: Conflict of interest or ethics laws requiring recusal

Ethics and conflict-of-interest laws typically require officials to disclose and recuse from votes where they have a direct financial interest in the outcome.