Practice Exam 1 Flashcards
Crime has been on the rise in the eastern part of your community. The neighborhood crime stoppers and community leaders have come together to try to come up with solutions to the problem. The neighborhood is working with the city planning department to improve the design of the neighborhood, using the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles. The plan includes:
I. Natural Surveillance
II. Territoriality
IV. Natural Access Control
You are drafting an amendment to the zoning ordinance to allow secondary units in the rear yard. As part of the staff report you are attempting to demonstrate how this would boost the income of existing property owners. In your example, you explain that a homeowner could take out a loan for $100,000, costing $500 per month to build the granny flat. The flat would rent for $800 per month.
Assuming the property would be vacant 5% of the time, what is the net operating income of the property?
Net Operating Income = Gross Operating Income X (1 – the vacancy rate) – operating expenses. $9,600 X (1 – 0.05) - $6,000 = $3,120.
Which of the following statements are NOT true regarding the appropriate strategies planners can take to address the challenges of the retail sector?
The enormous changes taking place in the retail sector are generally outside of planning control
Your organization has been contracted to help determine community preferences regarding a new zoning reform effort. You have already conducted a mail survey, and the survey response rate was sufficient. However, while the survey provided generalized information, you need to gain more comprehensive understanding. Which of the following would be the most effective approach?
Interview neighborhood organizations
Which of the following are true concerning Right to Farm laws?
Their intent is to make farming more viable
You have been charged with developing a regional agricultural development plan. As part of the planning process you will apply an interactive multi-goal programming technique. Which of the following would be most appropriate?
Linear programming
Your rural agricultural county is primarily known for corn and soybean farms. Today you received an application for the rezoning of a property for the development of a wind farm. This is:
A series of wind turbines
As a new planner for the state of Arizona, you are responsible for working with jurisdictions throughout the state, promoting land use policies that will support the growth of industry. You have a meeting scheduled with the Navajo Nation. In advance of the meeting, you do research to make sure you understand tribal authority as it relates to land use regulations. Which of the following best describes the authority of the Navajo Nation?
Tribes possess a nationhood status and retain inherent powers of self-government.
You are the consultant writing the city’s SmartCode. You are preparing a presentation to the planning commission describing the new code for recommended adoption. Which of the following is best to include:
A description of the continuum of transect zones from rural to urban
Which of the following is not typically included in a comprehensive plan?
Cost revenue analysis
Using an equation that can be rearranged to solve for the missing unknown variable, find the missing unknown variable.
Present Value: $7,500,000
Future Value: ?
Time: 10 years
Interest Rate: 2.5%
$9,600,634
This form of government serves a specific purpose to provide a specific and limited number of functions within a defined geographic area. This is known as:
Special District
A[n] ___________________ is the right to use a property owned by another person for specific purposes.
Easement
A church located in a residential neighborhood is requesting a special use permit to allow for a second building on the site for a daycare center. The neighborhood is strongly opposed to the additional building. Rather than proceed through the normal permit process given the strained relationship between the church and the neighborhood, the Zoning Board of Adjustment suggests that the parties use:
Mediation
One of your employees was convicted of a serious crime and their AICP was revoked. After serving their sentence they will be rehired. You have asked that the employee pursue reinstatement of their AICP. Who may reinstate membership in AICP?
Ethics Committee
Which of the following is NOT a goal of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act?
Enhancing legal protections for land banking
As the planning director in Dallas, you just completed an update to your comprehensive plan and as a result are updating the capital improvement program. The update to the CIP should include which of the following?
Land acquisitions
Concurrency
The mayor is focused on downtown development strategies that will attract the so-called “creative class”. Which of the following attributes are NOT thought to attract this type of worker?
Affordable single-family housing
Which of the following cases was a test of the 14th Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses?
Hadacheck v. Sebastian
You are a city planner for a major city and the city manager asks you to identify traffic intersections that create the most hazard for the city. The project will take several weeks, and you have two interns and a staff planner that can assist you. You build a project plan that identifies the critical tasks and how the project can get to completion. What would be the best tool to aid in completion of this project?
Program Evaluation and Review Technique
Management by Objectives is a participatory approach to establishing measurable objectives in an organization. Which of the following is NOT true of Management by Objectives?
The organization develops a set of decision packages.
What is a “push analysis”?
It determines the sales capacity of a market area.
You are organizing a committee to consider the future renovation needs of schools throughout the school district. What would be the optimal committee size?
9 to 15
A[n] _______________ can be described as a central city plus surrounding communities to which it is linked economically.
Metropolitan statistical area
The local religious community has united to aid in supporting refugees to relocate from Sudan to the region. This has resulted in a small but significant new minority population arriving into the community. As the planning department, what responsibility do you have to be responsive to the needs of these new community members?
Meet with local community leaders to understand the needs of the population.
The Standard State Zoning Enabling Act authorized a board of adjustment to do the following:
I. hear and decide appeals from determinations made by local zoning officials
II. grant variances to provide relief from the terms of the zoning ordinance
You work for a large city with 100 people on your staff, split across code enforcement, development, long-range planning, environmental compliance, and neighborhood relations. You have been asked to reorganize the department, which approach would be most appropriate?
Vertical
According to the Highway Capacity Manual, if a roadway has a service level of B it can be described as:
Stable flow, short delays and speed somewhat restricted
Which of the following is used to project future economic activity?
Twelve leading indicators
Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty found that …
zoning is a legitimate use of police power.
In the County you work for as a planner, the Library Director wants to make sure that a new library will meet the needs of neighborhood residents. This is the first step in what will be a yearlong planning process. The Director wants to begin by understanding library usage patterns among neighborhood residents. Which of the following public participation tools would be the most appropriate?
Conduct a neighborhood survey
Which of the following is a feature of Smart Growth?
A variety of housing choices
Which of the following would you include in the drafting of a zoning ordinance?
I. Minimum lot sizes
II. Maximum building heights
III. Procedures for changes in zoning
General Motors has announced that it will be closing a plant in your town, laying off 600 workers. The mayor is in a panic and wants to know what this will mean to the local economy. You have been asked to calculate an employment multiplier to estimate the total job loss for your community. Which of the following sources would you use?
Regional input-output modeling system
This form of development integrates information and communication technology and the Internet of Things to manage a city.
Smart City
Which of the following does NOT constitute a conflict of interest according to the AICP Code of Ethics?
Providing private information about a case to an environmental group.
With regard to takings, the U.S. Supreme Court has said that where a regulation is intended merely to prevent a[n] ____________, it should not be considered a taking.
Nuisance
A ___________ is one that is difficult to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that can be difficult to understand.
Wicked problem
You are part of a team that created an amazing waterfront plan. You prepare the submission for consideration for a national award. The lead planner on the project has since moved on to another organization. Given this person left the agency, you list yourself as the lead planner and key contact for the award nomination. Does this raise any ethical concerns?
Yes, this appears that you are taking credit for others work
You work for a city of 5,000 with a historic town square with a courthouse in the center as the county seat. Which of the following could be key considerations for your downtown commercial district?
I. Historic Preservation
II. Parking Capacity
III. Wayfinding
IV. Small Business Promotion
Which of the following takings tests was established in Agins v. City of Tiburon?
Deprives property of all economically viable use
According to the U.S. Census, an urban cluster is all of the following except…
A metropolitan statistical area
You have been hired to reorganize the development functions of the city and have been asked to create a new department. To guide these efforts which of the following would be most helpful?
Strategic Plan
In his term as Planning Director of the City of Cleveland, Norman Krumholz utilized which of the following planning theories:
Advocacy planning
You are drafting a sustainable energy policy for the county. Which of the following would have the highest albedo?
Snow
This program evolved out of efforts to implement planning requirements of the Housing Act of 1949 and became a signature program expanding local planning across the United States.
Section 701 of the Housing Act of 1954
What did the Homestead Act of 1862 do?
It allowed public lands to be sold for a nominal fee.
The City is considering whether to spend $300,000 on a building addition this year. However, the city council is debating whether it makes more sense to spend the $300,000 now or to wait four years when the expected cost for the addition would be $500,000. You have been asked to provide a fiscal analysis that provides support for which would be the best choice. You assume a 10 percent discount rate. What is your recommendation to the council?
You recommend to the city council that they proceed with the addition now as the future value of the funds would not exceed the expected cost of the addition in four years.
Regression Analysis can be described as which of the following?
A statistic that provides an estimate of one variable based upon other variables
Who is associated with “The City as a Growth Machine” Theory?
Logan and Molotch
A developer is pushing for rezoning of a property to allow for a mixed use development that would include 500 housing units, 50,000 square feet of retail and 20,000 square feet of office. While the development concept is sound, the city’s infrastructure is at maximum capacity. In the staff report, which of the following would best present the case:
At the present time, the city’s sewer system does not extend to this area and the road infrastructure is inadequate to handle the anticipated traffic from this development.
Deaths, Births, Migration, and Fertility rates are components of which of the following population projection methods?
Cohort Survival Method
If an industry has a location quotient of 1.3, which of the following is true?
It is an export industry.
As a planner working for the City of Belleville, you have been put in charge of updating the city’s comprehensive plan. At one of the public meetings about the plan update, the issue of homelessness is brought up and several concerned citizens voice the opinion that the comprehensive plan should tackle the problem. You explain that:
It would be appropriate to include the subject of homelessness in the local comprehensive plan
As a non-profit advocacy group, you are preparing a report on the state of a region’s sprawl. Which of the following is unlikely to be identified as an outcome of sprawl in the region?
An increase in land available for habitat
Which planned community built in 1923 foreshadowed the New Urbanism movement?
Mariemont, Ohio
As a rural county planner you want to engage the public in planning for the future of the county. You have decided that you want to not only get information from the public, but also have them analyze the information that would be used in the plan. The educational level of the community is relatively low, so you need to use techniques that will work for a non-literate group. Which of the following is most appropriate?
Participatory Rural Appraisal
The Mayor’s Office has requested that you conduct a citizen survey to determine satisfaction with city services. You are evaluating whether to use a mail or phone survey. Thinking about telephone surveys, which of the following is the most important negative of using telephone surveys?
They may not reach a representative sample
Which of the following maps would NOT be useful in preparing a site plan for a new development?
Orthographic map
An ethical planner principally serves:
The public interest.
The County is planning to undertake a county roadway project to service a growing development area. In order to build the road it will need to go through a wetland area. You are undertaking an environmental impact statement. Which of the following elements are you required to include?
I. Current conditions and the probable impact of the proposed action
II. Any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented
III. The relationship between local short term uses of the environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long term productivity
IV. Ways to minimize the negative impacts of the proposed action
You are a senior planner for a Midwestern county. You recently completed an inventory of vegetative resources within the county. As part of the inventory you discovered that the county has three endangered plant species. Which of the following techniques is best suited for protecting these endangered species from development?
Urban Growth Boundary
The City has experienced rapid growth of more than 5% per year over the last six years. You are working with the city attorney to develop a proposal to limit the number of building permits that can be issued each year. Which of the following cases upholds the ability of a city to limit building permits?
Construction Industry of Sonoma County v. City of Petaluma
You have been called by a reporter who is doing a story about zombie subdivisions. In the interview you provide which of the following statements to best describe the situation in your county?
Between 2006 and 2008, a total of 21,000 lots were platted. As of 2015, half were undeveloped. Developers anticipated significant demand in advance of the economic downturn. The County is working to develop an ordinance to allow replating of subdivisions.
You are the on the hiring committee for a new planning director. As the lead on creating a matrix for evaluating candidates, which of the following would be appropriate leadership qualities to include?
Political savvy, critical thinking, empathy, ethics
This Appalachian Regional Commission covers 420 counties and 8 cities. This is an example of which of the following spatial areas of practice?
Multi-State
You work for an Affordable Housing Corporation that is building a 22-unit rowhouse development in an area consisting mostly of single-family homes. The 7.3 acre site was approved by the City and building permits were issued. Because the property was zoned to allow for multifamily housing there were no public hearings.
However, once the construction began and neighbors realized the development was subsidized housing, they started a petition drive asking the City Council to revoke the building permit. You are preparing a presentation to the City Council in opposition of the downzoning of the property. Which of the following legal issues should you raise?
The Affordable Housing Corporation has a vested right to complete the project that is underway based on the City’s existing ordinance. If the City were to rezone the property that would interfere with the Corporation’s investment expectations of the property.
Which of the following problems would most likely be addressed by a state planner?
Economic development incentives