Land use controls and regulations Flashcards
A governmental police power that permits it to meet the need for public works by funding through a stable source of income that shares the burden among many citizens
Taxation
Tax based on the value of the real estate. General property taxes may pay for items such as schools, police, fire, etc.
Ad valorem taxes
Tax imposed only on properties that benefit from the improvement, such as a tax to install a sewer line or city water line on one specific street.
Special assessment taxes
The government’s power to take private land for public use.
Eminent domain
Governmental appropriation of property; a taking may or may not use the power of eminent domain.
Taking
The process of taking title and physical possession of private property using the government’s power of eminent domain.
The property owner is paid just compensation for the value of the property.
Condemnation action
The government takes private property but fails to compensate the owner
Property owners are forced to file suit to obtain compensation.
The taking may be physical through occupation or regulatory, where government regulations cause the property to lose economic value.
Inverse condemnation
The state’s power to take the property of a decedent who dies without a will, heirs, or creditors.
Escheat
The government’s authority, at any level, to do what it can to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens.
Police power
A police power exercised by a state, county, city, or town government that classifies land based on its current or intended usage.
Zoning
What are the Zoning Classifications
Residential Commercial Combination/mixed use Industrial Agricultural Parkland Recreation area Open space
Allows otherwise prohibited development in return for the developer providing a community benefit.
Incentive zoning
Regulates the density of a given area by requiring certain building height limitations, lot width, setback requirements, etc.
Bulk zoning
A way to ensure the visual and architectural consistency of an area.
Aesthetic zoning
The process of assigning a lower-density use zone to an area previously allowing a higher density.
Downzoning
Rezones a specific property for use within another zoning area.
Spot zoning
Deviates from current zoning but is grandfathered in (such as a home built years ago in an area that’s now commercially zoned).
Nonconforming use
Temporarily halts new property development
Moratorium
Allows use that’s not normally permitted but is considered an “allowable” use within that zoning, such as a church within a residentially zoned area
Special use permit (aka conditional use permit)
Permitted deviation in the zoning ordinance requirements; typically granted when the zoning has created a hardship or burden on the property owner.
Variance (aka use variance)
Oversees challenges to zoning actions
Zoning appeals board
Ensures that community growth is controlled and orderly; the board develops the master plan (also known as comprehensive plan), which includes a budget.
Planning board
Land that’s divided into lots for development.
Subdivision
A map of a subdivision that represents a tract of land, showing the boundaries and location of individual properties, streets, easements, and other pertinent information.
Plat map
Rules that specify the standards to which certain building projects must comply.
Building codes
Areas that are saturated by water in an amount sufficient to support vegetation that grows in the saturated soil.
Wetlands
Low-lying areas of property that are susceptible to flooding
Flood zones (aka floodplains)
Areas where buyers are required to obtain flood insurance as a condition of obtaining their mortgages.
Special flood hazard areas (SFHAs)
Helps homeowners in flood zones obtain affordable flood insurance.
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
Provides a search service that homeowners can use to determine if their property lies in a flood zone.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Encourages the clean-up and development of brownfields by providing funds for assessment and clean-up efforts, and protects buyers or developers from liability if the site were contaminated prior to ownership.
Small Business Liability Relief | Brownfields Revitalization Act
This hazardous material is a fibrous material that’s dangerous when it begins to deteriorate and becomes friable (easily crumbled or reduced to dust)
Asbestos
This hazardous material can be found in paint, plumbing, dust, soil, and drinking water.
Lead
This hazardous material occurs naturally in the environment and can be found in soil and well water. It enters a home through the building’s cracks and crevices, and experts believe it can cause lung cancer.
Radon
This hazardous material growth is promoted by excessive moisture and lack of air circulation.
Mold
This hazardous material is an odorless, colorless toxic gas that’s formed whenever fuel is burned. Gas and oil furnaces, gas refrigerators, clothes dryers, ranges, water heaters, and space heaters produce carbon monoxide, as can fireplaces, charcoal grills, and wood-burning stoves.
Carbon monoxide
This hazardous material is organic compounds that contain carbon, chlorine, and fluorine.
It hasn’t been linked to health concerns, but they have been linked to ozone depletion.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
This hazardous material is used in a variety of building products.
It’s a colorless chemical with a strong odor.
It’s emitted as a gas and is classified as a volatile organic compound (VOC).
Formaldehyde
This hazardous material is a mixture of man-made chemicals.
It’s odorless with tasteless solids or liquids.
Prior to being banned in 1979, it was used in industrial products and chemicals such as caulking compounds, transformers, and hydraulic oil.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Water that is under the earth’s surface.
Groundwater
Excavated areas where hazardous material is typically buried.
Waste disposal sites (landfills)
Properties that have been contaminated by commercial or industrial use
Brownfields
Established to clean up closed, abandoned, or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites and spills.
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
Adds an “innocent landowner” defense to CERCLA. Landowners who performed their due diligence when purchasing a property may be held innocent of clean-up liability if the property is found to be contaminated.
Superfunds Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)
The property owner is responsible for cleanup, regardless of who’s at fault.
Strict liability
Each of the responsible parties is personally responsible for damages.
Joint and several liability
Both the current owner and prior owners are liable.
Retroactive liability
Subdivision developers may place this on all properties within a development. These are rules established by developers or homeowners associations that govern properties and owners in the community.
Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) (aka restrictive covenants)
Typically set up as a covenant (an agreement between the homeowner and the association).
Homeowners association (HOA)
