Chapter 4

True statements about special assessments include:

The assessments often are proportional to front footage of the lots involved. They are used to fund public improvements affecting a limited set of properties. Common applications are for sidewalks, street improvements, sewer extensions, etc.

A type of land use that has often been viewed as a threat to destabilize a single family, owner oriented neighborhood is

large numbers of student rental households in the neighborhood

Toxic substances that have posed problems to property owners in the last two decades include:

leaking underground storage tanks. radon. mold. asbestos.

An ad valorem tax is levied at rates between 1.0 and 4.0 percent of a property's ____ ____.

market value

Which of these is a natural monopoly?

Sewer lines

Assessed value typically is ______ percent of market value, reflecting such factors as cost of selling a property.

85 - 90

An example of a "holdout" monopolist is:

A small remaining percent of condominium owners demand higher prices from a developer who wants to tear down and rebuild the property

An example of market failure due to externalities is:

A water bottling plant consumes so much well water that it lowers the water table on neighboring land

All of the environmental laws enacted by the United States are administered by one agency, which makes the agency extremely important to land owners. This is the (three letter acronym) ____.

EPA

A Phase I Environmental Value Assessment indicating a property is clean is legal protection to a buyer/investor:

If coupled with written assurance from the owner/developer

An example of incomplete construction information potentially contributing to market failure is

Inability to examine plumbing under a concrete slab. Inability to examine roof nails for wind resistance once a roof is complete.

Failure to pay property taxes eventually leads to foreclosure sale for all types of property except:

No exceptions for taxable properties

Which of these types of property generally is exempt from property taxation?

Private school

Concerning whether property taxes are regressive (higher as a percent of income as income is lower), true statements are:

Property taxes paid can be regressive. Considering both taxes paid and benefits received, property taxes probably are not regressive. Benefits funded by property taxes likely favor lower income households and are the opposite of regressive.

Planned unit development (PUD) allows residential density to range from single family detached to multifamily, and often include supporting commercial development.

True

A national law that has imposed permitting requirements on millions of acres of land, has been brought to the United States Supreme Court, and that continues to stir great controversy, is the Clean ____ Act.

Water

Components that typically are in a community comprehensive plan include

a map of various land uses within the community. allocation of land to various uses. plans for schools and other public facilities.

Characteristics of building codes include

address safety, health and sanitation. generally are regional rather than strictly local. continue to change with changing technology.

Aspects of subdivision regulations include requirements for

adequate quality of streets. coordination of streets with surrounding subdivisions. adequate provision of water and sewers.

performance standards have been implemented for a wide variety of externalities in land use, including

air quality effects from a land use. traffic generation by a land use. storm runoff.

The source from which property tax revenue can be obtained is the value of the total tax ____ less the value of property that is ____ from property taxes.

base. exempt.

The amount of revenue that a jurisdiction must raise from property taxes is the difference between its total ____ and its revenues from ____ sources.

budget. other (or nontax).

Three types of traditional land use controls are:

building codes. zoning. subdivision regulations.

Three forms of traditional land use controls are ____ ____ , ____ , and ____ regulations.

building codes. zoning. subdivision.

Standard features of traditional zoning include

bulk limits for buildings. minimum lot dimensions. provision for special use districts.

Generally, higher property taxes on a property tend to lower its value, while more resulting community services for the property tend to increase its value. In short, the effects of the property tax are captured or ____ into the value of a property.

capitalized (or built)

An aggressive planning concept to control the location of development, limits development until a minimum standard of public services and infrastructure is in place, provided by the land developers. This is referred as a ______ requirement.

concurrency

The legal procedure through which eminent domain is exercised is called ____.

condemnation

Attractions of the property tax for local governments include that it is

easy to collect or enforce. steady or reliable.

The planning or zoning commission is appointed as an advisory board by the

elected governing body

Failure to pay property taxes ultimately can lead to ____ and sale of the property at public auction.

foreclosure

Features of the "revolution in land use controls" included a shift

from little interest in land use controls to broadly requiring land use controls. from a perception of unlimited space and environment to a concept of "spaceship earth".

In condemnation proceedings for eminent domain the amount of compensation to the owner must be based on ____ and ____ use of the property at the time it is condemned.

highest. best.

The largest partial exemption for property taxes is the ____ exemption.

homestead

Examples of market failure due to incomplete information about construction quality include

inability to examine plumbing under a concrete slab floor. non-visible electrical systems once walls are closed in.

Proposed changes in a zoning ordinance must

initially be presented to a planning or zoning commission. go before the elected officials for final judgment or ratification.

In condemnation, the amount of compensation that restores the property owner to a financial position equivalent to that existing before the property was taken is called ____ compensation.

just

Conflicting views of best practice in urban planning include the choice between separation of residential from non-residential and ____ ____.

mixed use

Among the most recent environmental hazards encountered in real estate is:

mold

In zoning a non-conforming use

must have existed before the zoning was enacted. cannot change in use or structure. cannot be discontinued more than a limited time.

Modern alternatives (generally adopted after 1970) to traditional land use controls include

planned unit development. form-based zoning. performance standards. impact fees.

The power of state and local governments in the United States to regulate in the interest of the health, safety and welfare of citizens in general is known as:

police powers

Eminent domain is the right of government to acquire ____ property, without the owner's ____, for public use, in exchange for ____ ____.

private. consent. just compensation.

Steps to creating a comprehensive plan typically include

projecting demand for natural resources. projecting demand for public services. projecting population growth.

The narrowest notion of eminent domain limits its scope to "public use," that is, for ____ facilities only, while the more common and broader view allows eminent domain to be use for "public purpose," meaning any use of clear public ____.

public. benefit.

Police power is the power of any government to regulate in the interest of the general health, ____ , and ____ of the citizens.

safety. welfare.

Types of property that commonly are exempt from property taxes include

schools and universities. places of worship. hospitals. other property of religious organizations.

The main attraction of performance standards is that they can address the problematic effects (externalities) of a land use more flexibly and efficiently than the approach of conventional zoning, which is ____ of land uses.

seperation (or segregation)

In contrast to property taxes, which are based on property value, special assessments are based more on equally ____ the total cost of improvements.

sharing (or distributing)

To find the property tax amount for a property multiply the taxable value by the total ____ ____.

tax (or millage) rate

In recent decades the "public purpose" concept of eminent domain is claimed to have allowed misuse: encouraging local governments to use eminent domain to replace older private land uses with new ones simply to generate higher ____ ____.

tax revenues

An example of market failure due to incomplete information is:

the buyer of a house doesn't know that the electrical wiring is aluminum, and prone to cracking - a fire hazard.

Events that triggered the "revolution in land use controls" included

the environmental movement. the Love Canal disaster. publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.

A major reason for subdivision regulations is that usually the responsibility for maintaining streets and sewers eventually falls to

the local government

Perceived threats to destabilize a single family, owner oriented neighborhood have included

the presence of apartments or commercial activity in the neighborhood

An important process for any investor in property that could possibly contain toxic substances is a Phase 1 Environmental Value Assessment. This procedure examines

the property surface, itself. property history. air samples. water samples.

An example of conflicting notions of best practice in urban planning is

uniform residential densities vs mixed residential densities. grid street patterns vs cul-de-sac streets.

Building codes

were the earliest form of police power regulation of land use. originally were prompted primarily by the threat of fire. began to be adopted by US communities around 1900.

common examples of partial exemptions for property taxes include exemptions for

widows. historic property. disabled persons. veterans.