Areas of Practice Flashcards
What is a Fiscal Impact Analysis?
Also known as a cost-revenue analysis, is used to estimate the costs and revenues of a proposed development on a local government.
Ex: if a developer plans to build a shopping mall, what will be the cost to extend and maintain infrastructure, provide police and fire service and transit access?
The answer is then compared to the sales, property, and income tax generated from this new development.
If revenues are greater than expenditures then the development will have a positive impact.
What is Euclidean Zoning?
Names after Euclid, OH where it places more protective restrictions on residential land use, less on commercial, and none on industries.
What is cumulative zoning?
This is a successive zoning district where it allows uses from a previous zone.
Ex: a single family district allows single family homes;
A multi-family district allows apartments and single family homes; a commercial district allows retail/commercial and also multi-family homes; industrial district allows industrial and commercial.
A person could build a single family home in any zoning district but a favored can only locate in an industrial district.
What is Modified Cumulative Zoning?
In this type of zoning, districts are typically cumulative by the type of land use.
Ex: a multi-family district would allow single family but an industrial district would not allow residential use.
What’s the difference between conditional and permitted use?
A permitted use would not require the city’s permission.
A conditional use or special use permit requires permission and allows certain use in a district only when it’s compatible with its surroundings.
What is trip generation?
This deals with the number of trips that a particular site is likely to generate.
How do you determine the trip generation rate?
- Origin-Destination Survey - requires that roadblocks be set up along major routes and cars within the cordon line are questioned where they are coming from and where they are going.
- Cross Tabulation models - they allow for estimate of trip generation rates based on land use type, purpose, or socioeconomic characteristics.
Some trip generation rates:
9 daily trip ends per single family dwelling
7 trip ends for apartment unit
38 daily trips per 1,000sf of shopping center space
What are Enterprise Zones?
They are geographic areas in which companies can qualify for a variety of subsidies.
Original intent was to encourage businesses to stay, locate, or expand in depressed areas to help revitalize them.
What is the multiplier effect?
In economic development is that certain jobs will drive demand for other jobs.
If a new industry creates 10 new jobs directly, then 15 indirect jobs will be created and 12 induced jobs. Therefore the 10 direct jobs resulted in a net total of 37 jobs in the region.
What is CSD?
Context-Sensitive Design refers to roadway standards and development practices that are flexible and sensitive to community values.
What is a Form-based code?
This is a type of zoning code that regulates development to achieve a specific urban form.
They address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another and the scale and types of streets and blocks.
What is New Urbanism?
This promotes compact, walkable neighborhoods. Promotes mixed income and walkable neighborhoods with a variety of styles.
It was formed to counter “modernist urbanism” of which was designed by Le Corbusier in his Radiant City in 1922 to house 3 million inhabitants with a 60 story glass skyscraper.
What are some examples of Tactical Urbanism?
Tactical Urbanism represents an activists approach to engaging the community in the possibilities of transforming a space.
Park-ing Day - turns parking spaces into temporary parks
Empty storefront into a pop up shop
Adding a temporary bicycle lane
What is a TOD?
Transit Oriented Development - this is a mixed use development designed to maximize access to public transportation.
What is Biophillic Design?
The need to create a habitat for people as biological organisms.
Direct experience with nature:
Light, air, water, plants, animals, weather
Indirect:
Images of nature, natural materials, natural colors, mobility and way finding, etc
Who wrote “How the Other Half Lives?”
Jacob Riis in 1890 which highlighted the plight of the poor in NYC.
Who wrote the Neighborhood Unit Concept?
Clarence Perry in 1929 as part of the “Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs.”
The Neighborhood Unit Concept defines neighborhoods based on a 5-minute walking radius, with a school at its center.
Each neighborhood is approximates 160 acres with a density of 10 units per acre and a population of 5,000
What is PWA?
Public Works Administration of 1934 provided 85% of the cost of public housing projects. 1st federally supported housing program.
National Housing Act, 1934
Established the Federal Housing Administration with the purpose of insuring home mortgages.
Wagner-Steagall Act of 1937 built upon the National Housing Act establishing the US Housing Authority and provided $500 million in loans for low cost housing projects
Explain the Resettlement Administration.
1935; used New Deal funds to develop new towns throughout the US.
Three of these were the “Greenbelt” communities of Greendale, WI, Greenhills, OH, and Greenbelt, MD.
Housing Act 1937
Tied slum clearance to public housing
Provided $500 million in home loans for development of low-cost housing.
This act including Section 8 which authorized project-based rental assurance where owners reserve some or all units in a building to low-income tenants.
This was amended in 1974 to create what is known as “Section 8 Housing.”
What is the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act?
1944; known as the GI Bill, guaranteed home loans to veterans. Resulted in rapid development of suburbs.
What is HUD?
1965; US Department of Housing and Urban Development - put into place rent subsidies for the poor, home loans at reduced interest rates and subsidies for public housing projects.
What is FHA?
1968; Fair Housing Act - expanded on previous act to prohibit discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin and since 1974, sex.
Since 1988 the act protects people with disabilities and families with children.
What is CDBG?
1974; Community Development Block Grant
Created under the Housing and Community Development Act. The grant provides flexibility for communities to use federal funds for the improvement of blighted areas.
To receive HUD funds, what is required of a local community?
They must prepare a Consolidated Plan.
This is both a process and a document. It is a process through which a community identifies its housing, homeless, and community development needs and establishes multi-year goals and an annual action plan.
What are the four characteristics of a park score?
Acreage, investment, amenities, access
What is the Wilderness Act?
1964; this act defined wilderness as an area of undeveloped Federal land retailing its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements or human habitation.
As of 2016, more than 106 million acres of federal public lands are designated as wilderness.
What did the two acts from the 1920s cause confusion about comprehensive planning?
Standard City Planning Enabling Act: purposely avoided defining a comprehensive plan but gives examples of the subject matter.
Standard Zoning Enabling Act: states that zoning regulations must be in conformance with a comprehensive plan but did not define the term.
What are the steps of the comprehensive planning process?
- Identifying stakeholders
- Defining goals
- Gather information and analysis
- Develop alternatives
- Select an alternative
- Implement (set a budget and lay out action steps)
- Evaluate and amend
How do planners make change in the world?
- Long-range community visioning
- Plan making
3 standards, polices and incentives
4 development work - Public investments
What does smart growth mean for the housing sector?
Smart growth principles promote compact, transit-serves housing as well as providing a range of housing opportunities and choices.
- Mixed use/mixed income
- Choice and opportunity
- Efficient and sustainable land use
- Retrofitting communities
What is the difference between land capability analysis and land suitability analysis?
Land capability analysis analyzes physical data to estimate the cost of land development.
Land suitability analysis is broader and focuses on where development should occur.
What is a “right to farm” law?
Right to farm laws deny nuisance lawsuits against farmers who use standard farming practices and have been in prior operation even if these practices harm or bother adjacent property owners or the general public.
What is the difference between mitigation and adaptation?
Mitigation is the reduction of greenhouse gases; Adaptation is about confronting the impacts of climate change rather than actually reducing greenhouse gases.
As planners we want to do both.
What is a net zero building?
A building that produces as much energy as it uses in a given time period.
What is meant by “diversion” in waste management?
Diversion is about diverting waste from a landfill or incinerator by instead reusing or recycling waste.
According to APA, what does housing have to do with climate change?
Climate change can be addressed through compact housing design, preservation of existing housing stock, and provision of a range of housing opportunities.
What do ecosystems services try to incentivize?
Ecosystem services are a way to incentivize land conservation and sustainable land management practices.
How often are Local Mitigation Plans suppose to be updated?
Every 5 years
What does the National Flood Insurance Program require local governments to do?
To identify flood prone areas, as well as the link between living in a flood prone area and the ability to buy flood insurance.
Given an example of point vs. non-point solution.
Non-point pollution is “diffuse” and covers a wide area; it may be associated with a particular land use.
Ex/ fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, sediment from improperly managed construction sites
Point pollution comes from a specific site.
Ex: smokestacks, discharge pipes, drainage ditches
What is another name for CERCLA (comprehensive environmental response, compensation and liability act)?
The Superfund bull, identifies superfund sites.
Who is Rachel Carson?
Wrote Silent Spring, 1962
Catalytic in bringing public awareness about environmental issues in the 1960s.
This created NEPA.
Who administers the Clean Water Act?
Section 404 of the clean water act
US Army Corps of Engineers - administers day to day program
EPA - develops and interprets policy and guidance
US Fish and Wildlife Service - evaluates impacts on fish and wildlife
What are the C.A.F.E Standards?
Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards, first enacted in 1975.
This was to improve the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks produced in the US.
What are the elements to be integrated in a “food system”?
Food production, processing, distribution, consumption and often disposal.
What do food policy councils do?
25 states have food policy councils which address issues like food deserts, obesity rates, and loss of agricultural land and take an integrative approach to looking at food.
How is conservation design different from a PUD?
Conservation design is about making open space usable when development is clustered; according to the book “Rural by Design,” open space that was preserved as a result of PUDs tended to neglect his consideration.
How is a TDR different from a PDR?
PDRs are planned development rights and involve the selling of development rights. This can help protect farmland.
TDRs involve transferring development to a receiving area.
What is the goal of Low Impact Development?
The goal of LID is to preserve and recharge groundwater by using appropriate principles of site development and design.
What is a CAP park?
Built over a segment of freeway. They have been around since the 1950s
What is an alternative way of measuring park provision, beyond acreage per population?
Park conditions, park amenities, and park pressure which is based on density and access.
How many acres and sq feet are in 1 mile?
640 acres
43,560 sq ft
How much SF is needed for 1 parking space?
400 sf
What are the standard catchment areas for pedestrian sheds?
A pedestrian shed is the area around a given resource, typically based on a radius of 1/4 mile (Perry) or 1/2 mile (Transit Oriented Development)
Who wrote “The Image of the city”?
Kevin Lynch: 5 Elements of Imageability - paths, edges, districts, nodes, landmarks
What does a figure-ground map show?
1748 Map of Rome by Giambattista Nolli
It shows spatial definition which is a relationship between solid spaces (buildings) and open space (voids)
What is CPTED?
Crime Prevention through Environmental Design
Oscar Newman, “Defensible Space”
What density is needed to support transit?
Depends on location but typically ranges from 10-30 dwelling units per acre around a station in a city center, to 5-20 units per acre around a station in a suburban center.
Why was the Housing Act of 1954 important to local planning?
Section 701 funds for comprehensive planning
Communities less than 25,000
Slum prevention and urban renewal
Pruitt-Igoe - built 1955, St. Louis - failure, no funding for maintenance demolished 1972
What did the Fair Housing Act outlaw?
The Act specifically stated that a landlord could not refuse to rent or sell to someone based on race, religion, family status or gender and therefore outlawed discrimination in housing.
What are Promise Zones?
HUD - high poverty areas where the federal government (HUD) partners with local leaders to increase economic activity, improve educational opportunities and leverage private investment, among other goals
What is the largest funding source for affordable housing?
The Low-Income Tax Credit (LIH-TC) which allows private investors to take a federal tax credit for development of affordable housing.
What land use category should apply to small group homes?
According to APA, small group homes should be considered a residential land use.
What LOS characterizes a traffic jam?
Level of Service F
What are the LOS (A-F)?
A. Free-flow with low volumes and high speeds
b. Reasonably free flow
C. Stable flow at or near free flow (mostly stable flow, but speeds and maneuverability are somewhat constructed by the volume)
D. Approaching unstable flow
E. Unstable flow, operating at capacity
F. Forced or breakdown of flow (constant traffic jam)
What is VMT?
Vehicles Miles Traveled
What is volume to Capacity Ratio?
The number of vehicles passing through an intersection or area of road divided by the number of vehicles it’s designed to handle.
What is a Travel Demand Model?
Uses current travel behavior to predict future travel patterns from a sample of travel behavior data.
- Trip generation (volume of trio origins and destinations
- Trip distribution (across TAZs)
- modal split
- Trip assignment - pathways used by each trip
What are origin-destination surveys used for?
Conducted to understand the pattern and distribution of vehicular trips.
Ex: daily pattern of trips for work vs trips for shopping
What is the difference between vertical and horizontal traffic calming?
Vertical traffic calming refers to things like raised intersections and speed bumps.
Horizontal traffic calming refers to horizontal shifts like traffic circles.
Does complete streets intersect with economic infrastructure?
Yes, as well as:
Bike and pedestrian compatibility, green infrastructure, street furniture.
Key of complete streets: Elements that provide for streets to accommodate multiple users and goals.
What percent of parking is “free” according to Donald Shoup?
There’s 99% of parking is free. Enormous subsidy - over supply. Makes driving less expensive when we should not be subsidizing driving.
What are the two shared mobility service models?
Core and incumbent (car rentals, taxis) and Innovative services (car sharing and micro transit)
What transportation act was first to present a multi-modal approach to transportation?
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (1991) called Ice-Tea
Followed by the Transportation Equity Act (1998)
Why did APA label the FAST Act as a “mixed bag”?
While it allowed local planners to determine street design standards for federally funded projects, it did not raise the gas tax in order to fund transportation improvements.
Planners need to consider what for infrastructure of new development?
Typical demand, demand under worst case scenarios, roadway use, sewer facilities and capacity (what is the depth and velocity of flow?)
How do planners determine if a proposed development is adequately served by fire responders?
Distance to fire station and the development, available water pressure; fire insurance ratings
What was the Community Reinvestment Act designed to do?
The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act was about reducing, redlining and encouraging banks (and Savings & Loans) to meet the needs of all members of the community.
What is the New Markets Tax Credit Program?
A program that uses tax credits to stimulate economic development in under-served areas.
What law was passed to protect human health and the natural environment from hazards of waste and to reduce the amount of waste generated?
The Resource Conservation Recovery Act of 1976. This is the primary federal act dealing with disposal of solid and hazardous waste.
What is it called when the petroleum output is at its maximum either a continued increase in demand?
Peak Oil
What will an origin-destination survey demonstrate?
Pattern of daily trips
In Neotraditional Development, a node is what?
Mixed use, multimodal, contains public spaces
This is also known as the new urbanism or traditional neighborhood development.
In what federal environmental law is the term “potentially responsible parties” used?
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act identifies potentially responsible parties for environmental contamination.
Also known as Superfund.
What does FEMA stand for?
Federal Emergency Management Agency
What is the discharge of pollutants into the environment in an untreated, partially treated, or completely treated state?
Effluent
What would allow a landlocked property owner the ability to obtain an easement?
According to the common law doctrine, an easement by necessity is used to allow a landlocked landowner to access a public roadway over another’s private land when no other relief is feasible.
What are several methods for conducting a fiscal impact analysis (cost-revenue analysis)?
- Average Per Capita Method: simplest method, but least reliable. It divides the local budget by the existing population to determine the average per capita cost for the jurisdiction.
- Adjusted Per Capita Method: Uses the figure calculated above and adjusts this based on expectations about the new development.
- Disaggregated Per Capita Method: estimates the costs and revenues based on major land uses; ex: the cost of servicing a shopping center vs an apartment complex.
- Dynamic Method: applies statistica analysis to time-series data from a jurisdiction. Ex: how much sales tax revenue is generated per capita from a grocery store and applies this to the new development. Requires more data and time than the other methods.
What is the federal Indian trust responsibility?
The federal Indian trust responsibility is a legal obligation under which the United States “has charged itself with moral obligations of the highest responsibility and trust” toward Indian Tribes (Seminole National v United States, 1942)…money/funds owed
What is a federally recognized tribe?
It is an American Indian or Alaska Native tribal entity that is recognized as having a government-to-government relationship with the United States, with responsibilities, powers, limitations and obligations attached to that designation and is eligible for funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
There are 574 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages.
How is federal recognition tribal status conferred?
Historically, most of today’s federally recognized tribes received federal recognition status through treaties, acts of Congress, presidential executive orders or federal administration actions or federal court decisions.
1978 - Dept. of Interior issued regulations governing the Federal Acknowledgement Process (FAP) to handle requests for federal recognition.
1994, Congress enacted Public Law 103-454, the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act, which formally established 3 ways in which an Indian group may become federally recognized:
- By Act of Congress
- By the administrative procedures under 25 C.F.R. Part 83
- By decision of a United States court.
Under this Act, the Secretary of the Interior must publish an annual list of federal recognized tribes in the Federal Register.
What are the three types of reserved federal lands?
- Military
- Public
- Indian