Chapter 4: Government Controls & Real Estate Markets

Vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes on government controls, public planning, zoning tools, environmental regulations, eminent domain, and property tax calculations.

Police Power

The authority reserved largely to the states, deriving from the Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court interpretation, used to regulate land use through planning, zoning, building codes, and other restrictions.

Public Planning

The practice of directing land uses from a community perspective to correct market failures, efficiently separate incompatible land uses, incorporate congestion and environmental effects, and protect buyers from incomplete information.

Comprehensive Plan

A general guide and community vision for future growth and development that projects population growth, natural resource requirements, physical characteristics, public service needs, and required types of land use.

Building Codes

The earliest method to regulate land use, generally applied at the state level, which sets construction standards for fire safety, structural strength, sanitation, health, plumbing, air quality, and energy efficiency.

Zoning

The primary approach to land use regulation since the 1920s, featuring use classifications (residential, commercial, industrial), setback requirements, density limits, and special use districts.

Nonconforming Uses

Existing land uses that fall outside a new zoning classification after ordinances are revised, which may continue to exist as long as they are never discontinued.

Variance

A waiver granted when a zoning regulation imposes exceptional hardship and loss of value on a lot, provided the hardship is unique, true, and does not materially change the neighborhood's character.

Exclusionary Zoning

Zoning ordinances that tend to exclude lower-income groups by requiring large lot sizes or by failing to adequately provide for low- and moderate-income housing, which courts have overturned.

Subdivision Regulations

Land use tools establishing standards for streets, sewer and water systems, fire safety water supply, drainage, open spaces, lot layout, utility easements, and traffic and pedestrian safety.

Planning and Zoning Administration

An appointed board created in a zoning ordinance to oversee implementation, review requested changes, and make advisory decisions to elected officials.

Site Plan Review Board

An advisory group that conducts an open and informal review of proposed site plans for subdivisions, apartments, commercial, and industrial projects.

Planned Unit Developments (PUD)

A modern land use control tool that allows setback requirements and density to vary in exchange for larger areas of open space and nature preservation.

Performance Standards

A land use control approach that permits specific uses (such as industrial in commercial areas) provided they meet defined, acceptable operational standards rather than being prohibited.

Impact Fees

Fees levied on developers to compensate for external costs that a new development imposes on the community at large, serving as a revenue source for local government.

Form-Based Zoning Codes

A modern zoning method that creates a development map by segregating building shapes rather than segregating land uses.

Clean Air Act, 1970

Environmental legislation that gave the EPA authority to set National Air Quality Standards.

Clean Water Act, 1972-1977

Environmental legislation that gave the EPA authority to control pollutant discharges into the waters of the United States.

Safe Drinking Water Act, 1974

Environmental legislation that granted the EPA authority to implement quality standards for drinking water.

Toxic Substances Control Act, 1976

Environmental legislation that authorized the EPA to monitor and control industrial chemicals.

CERCLA, 1980

The Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, which established the "Superfund" to clean up abandoned or uncontrolled toxic sites.

Eminent Domain

The right of the government to acquire private property without the owner's consent for public use in exchange for just compensation, requiring public use, due process, and just compensation.

Assessment

The process of determining the value of real property for taxation purposes.

Assessor

The government official responsible for property valuation.

Tax Rolls

Official records containing property parcels, valuations, tax rates, and tax amounts due.

Effective Tax Rate

The amount of tax paid or owed divided by the market value of the property, expressed mathematically as $\text{Effective Tax Rate} = \frac{\text{Tax Paid}}{\text{Market Value}}$.

Special Assessments

Taxes levied specifically to finance specific local improvements, such as streets, water systems, and sidewalks, that benefit the general community.