Free practice
The local legislative body, the planning board, and the zoning board of appeals
Finish →Question 1 of 40
Which body acts as the local legislative body for a New York town when adopting zoning laws?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The town board
New York Town Law § 261 grants the town board authority to adopt zoning regulations by local law or ordinance.
Question 2 of 40
In New York, an area variance provides relief from which kind of restriction?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: A dimensional or physical zoning requirement
New York Town Law § 267 defines an area variance as relief from dimensional or physical requirements of zoning regulations.
Question 3 of 40
A New York town directs its planning board to prepare a comprehensive plan. Which body may adopt the completed plan by resolution?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The town board
Under New York Town Law § 272-a, a planning board preparing the plan recommends it to the town board, which may adopt it by resolution.
Question 4 of 40
A house is a permitted use in a New York town, but its proposed addition would extend into a required side yard. Which request addresses that specific zoning problem?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: An area variance from the zoning board of appeals
The conflict involves a yard dimension, not a prohibited use. An area variance addresses dimensional zoning relief under New York Town Law § 267.
Question 5 of 40
A salesperson says that the planning board's favorable site-plan review changed the district's zoning classification. What is the best evaluation?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The claim confuses development review with a legislative zoning change.
Site-plan review evaluates development arrangements. It does not itself enact a district zoning change, and a variance is not rezoning.
Question 6 of 40
Which statement best describes a comprehensive plan?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: It identifies goals and policies for immediate and long-range community development.
New York Town Law § 272-a describes a comprehensive plan as materials identifying goals and policies for immediate and long-range town development.
Question 7 of 40
A New York town wants to appoint a current town board member to its zoning board of appeals. How should that proposal be evaluated?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The member is ineligible while serving on the town board.
New York Town Law § 267 makes town board members ineligible for membership on the zoning board of appeals.
Question 8 of 40
A town's planning board prepared a comprehensive plan and held its preparation hearing. A member argues that the town board can now adopt it without its own pre-adoption hearing. What is the best response?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Incorrect, because the town board must also hold a hearing before adoption.
New York Town Law § 272-a requires a town board hearing before adoption when a planning board or special board prepares the proposed comprehensive plan.
Question 9 of 40
Under New York Town Law § 261, where does a town board's zoning authority apply?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: In the part of the town outside incorporated villages and cities
Section 261 limits this town zoning authority to the portion of the town outside incorporated villages and cities.
Question 10 of 40
An owner proposes splitting one tract into six building lots. The municipality has authorized its planning board to review such proposals. Which review is being requested?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Subdivision review
Dividing a tract into lots is a subdivision issue. An authorized planning board reviews that division rather than treating it as a variance or comprehensive-plan adoption.
Question 11 of 40
A repair shop is prohibited in a New York zoning district. The owner seeks permission for that use on one parcel without asking to amend the district's zoning. Which request fits?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: A use variance
A use variance authorizes a purpose otherwise prohibited by zoning. The proposal concerns the activity on the land rather than dimensions.
Question 12 of 40
A New York town adopts a comprehensive plan under Town Law § 272-a. Which statement about its land-use regulations is correct?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: They must be in accordance with the adopted comprehensive plan.
Section 272-a requires all town land-use regulations to accord with a comprehensive plan adopted pursuant to that section.
Question 13 of 40
A plan recommends future housing growth near transit. A buyer concludes that this recommendation alone permits a currently prohibited apartment building. What is the best analysis?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The buyer is confusing a planning policy with permission under zoning.
A comprehensive-plan recommendation is distinct from zoning permission or project approval. A policy favoring housing does not itself authorize a prohibited project.
Question 14 of 40
Which New York town body appoints the zoning board of appeals?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The town board
New York Town Law § 267 assigns appointment of the town zoning board of appeals to the town board.
Question 15 of 40
A developer disputes a zoning administrator's interpretation of a district requirement and seeks an administrative zoning appeal. Which body is the appropriate match?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The zoning board of appeals
An appeal from zoning administration belongs to the zoning board of appeals, rather than a body acting on a subdivision or comprehensive plan.
Question 16 of 40
Two neighbors seek different changes: one wants a permitted house closer to a lot line; the other wants a prohibited industrial activity on a parcel. Which classification is correct in New York?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The first concerns an area variance; the second concerns a use variance.
New York Town Law § 267 distinguishes dimensional relief from authorization of an otherwise prohibited use. The house setback is dimensional; the industrial activity is a use issue.
Question 17 of 40
A New York town proposes new district-wide limits on building height and lot coverage. Which action fits that proposal?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The town board enacts zoning regulations.
New York Town Law § 261 authorizes the town board to regulate building height and the percentage of a lot occupied through zoning laws or ordinances.
Question 18 of 40
What is the characteristic focus of site-plan review for a proposed development?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The arrangement of access, parking, and buildings on the site
Site-plan review addresses the proposed development's arrangement, including access, parking, and building placement.
Question 19 of 40
A New York town board wishes to prepare its comprehensive plan itself rather than direct the planning board to do so. Which statement is correct?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The town board may prepare the proposed comprehensive plan itself.
New York Town Law § 272-a permits preparation by the town board itself or, by its resolution, by the planning board or a special board.
Question 20 of 40
A New York town board appoints the zoning board of appeals. An applicant argues that this makes the appeals board the town's zoning legislature. What is the soundest assessment?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Appointment does not merge the legislative function with the variance function.
New York's town board has zoning legislative authority under § 261; appointment of the appeals board under § 267 does not turn variance decisions into legislation.
Question 21 of 40
Which group of issues fits the scope of a New York town comprehensive plan?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Future housing needs, transportation facilities, and resource protection
New York Town Law § 272-a identifies housing, transportation, and natural-resource concerns among comprehensive-plan topics.
Question 22 of 40
A buyer points to a town-wide map showing desired future land uses and calls it the approved site plan for a shopping center. Which distinction best corrects the buyer?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: A comprehensive-planning map expresses broader policy; a site plan addresses a particular development's arrangement.
A community's future-use planning map and a project's site plan serve different purposes. A planning map is not itself project approval.
Question 23 of 40
A New York town's planning board finishes the comprehensive plan it was directed to prepare. What is its role in moving the proposal toward adoption?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Recommend the proposed plan to the town board.
Under New York Town Law § 272-a, the planning board preparing the plan recommends the proposal to the town board by resolution.
Question 24 of 40
Which purpose underlies the New York town board's grant of zoning power in Town Law § 261?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Promoting community health, safety, and general welfare
Section 261 grants zoning power for public purposes including health, safety, morals, and the community's general welfare.
Question 25 of 40
A developer wants a district's permitted-use list changed for future projects throughout the district, rather than relief for one parcel. Which body should consider the legislative change in a New York town?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The town board
A district-wide change to permitted uses is zoning legislation. New York Town Law § 261 grants that zoning power to the town board.
Question 26 of 40
A salesperson must identify who reviews site plans in an unfamiliar municipality. Which approach is best?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Check the municipality's allocation of site-plan review authority.
Planning boards commonly review site plans when authorized, but the assignment of development-review authority must be determined from the municipality's law.
Question 27 of 40
A building's use is permitted, but its proposed height exceeds the zoning limit. The owner calls the request a use variance because the extra space will be used for business. What is the best analysis under New York's variance definitions?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The noncompliance is dimensional, so the request concerns an area variance.
Height is a dimensional requirement. New York Town Law § 267 classifies relief by the zoning restriction involved, not by the everyday use of the extra space.
Question 28 of 40
What is the defining difference between rezoning and a variance?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Rezoning changes zoning rules or classifications; a variance grants relief from an existing zoning requirement.
Rezoning is a legislative change to zoning. A variance is relief from existing zoning requirements rather than a rewriting of district rules.
Question 29 of 40
A New York town board proposes zoning rules for a parcel inside an incorporated village, relying on Town Law § 261. What issue should the salesperson recognize first?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: This grant of town zoning power excludes land within incorporated villages.
Section 261 restricts the town zoning power it grants to land outside incorporated villages and cities. A mailing address does not alter that territorial limit.
Question 30 of 40
A town adopts a comprehensive plan under New York Town Law § 272-a. A member argues that future land-use regulations can disregard it because planning is merely advisory. Which response is best?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Incorrect, because town land-use regulations must accord with a plan adopted under that section.
Section 272-a expressly requires town land-use regulations to be in accordance with an adopted comprehensive plan. That requirement does not eliminate the regulations themselves.
Question 31 of 40
Which statement correctly distinguishes planning-board work from zoning-board-of-appeals work?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The planning board conducts assigned planning and development review; the appeals board decides zoning appeals and variance requests.
Planning and authorized development review are distinct from the appeals and variance functions of the zoning board of appeals.
Question 32 of 40
A developer has obtained relief from a setback requirement and tells a lender that the decision also approved the project's parking and access layout. No site-plan decision has been made. Which conclusion is best?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The developer is treating dimensional relief as if it were separate development-layout approval.
A variance addressing a setback and review of parking and access perform distinct functions. The described relief does not establish that site-plan approval occurred.
Question 33 of 40
A New York town board is considering whether to prepare a comprehensive plan itself or assign preparation elsewhere. Which alternative is authorized by Town Law § 272-a?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Direct the planning board or a special board to prepare the proposal.
Section 272-a allows the town board, by resolution, to assign preparation of a proposed comprehensive plan to the planning board or a special board.
Question 34 of 40
A New York property owner meets all dimensional requirements but proposes an activity the district prohibits. Which fact determines that the requested exception is a use-variance issue?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The proposed purpose of the land is prohibited by zoning.
Under New York Town Law § 267, use-variance classification depends on a purpose otherwise prohibited by zoning. Dimensional compliance does not make a prohibited use permissible.
Question 35 of 40
A planning board with site-plan review authority examines driveway access and parking for a proposed store on an existing lot. The applicant is not dividing the land or seeking zoning relief. Which description fits the proceeding?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Site-plan review of the development's arrangement
Review of access and parking for a particular project is site-plan review. The facts distinguish it from subdivision, variance, and legislative zoning actions.
Question 36 of 40
Which pairing correctly identifies the New York town bodies responsible for comprehensive-plan recommendation and adoption when the planning board prepares the proposal?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The planning board recommends; the town board adopts.
Under New York Town Law § 272-a, the preparing planning board recommends the proposed comprehensive plan to the town board, which may adopt it by resolution.
Question 37 of 40
A New York town seeks higher population density throughout a district. An official suggests that the zoning board of appeals grant an area variance for the district as a substitute for amending zoning. What is the best assessment?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The proposal is a legislative change to density regulations, not a substitute variance proceeding.
New York Town Law § 261 empowers the town board to regulate population density. Changing district-wide policy is distinct from deciding an individual variance.
Question 38 of 40
A New York town wants coordinated policies addressing housing shortages, road connections, and natural-resource protection. Which undertaking best addresses those related long-range concerns?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Preparing a comprehensive plan
A comprehensive plan under New York Town Law § 272-a can coordinate housing, transportation, and resource-protection policies for town development.
Question 39 of 40
An owner agrees with the zoning administrator's interpretation that a setback applies but asks for permission to depart from it. How does this differ from challenging the interpretation?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The owner seeks dimensional variance relief rather than reversal of the interpretation.
A request to depart from an accepted dimensional requirement is an area-variance request. A challenge to the administrator's reading instead disputes how zoning applies.
Question 40 of 40
A salesperson is asked to explain why favorable planning-board comments on a proposed development do not establish that a requested use variance has been granted. Which explanation is best?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Planning review and a zoning board of appeals decision on use relief are different governmental actions.
Favorable planning comments are not a zoning board of appeals decision granting a use variance. Distinct bodies and actions must not be treated as interchangeable approvals.
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