PrepTest 141, Section 4, Question 2
Residents of a coastal community are resisting the(60 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(17 more words not shown)
- AEvery possible effort(14 more words not shown)
- BCommunities that seek(17 more words not shown)
- CArtists who choose(25 more words not shown)
- DThe right to(18 more words not shown)
- EIn historic communities,(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
It's their land, and the house meets the town's codes. What gives the neighbors a reason to limit what the family can build?
I understand why the neighbors want the landscape preserved. A beloved painter depicted it, and a large new house would change the view. But recognizing that loss doesn't yet settle whose interests should control the decision. The family has an interest in using its property too.
What we’re looking for
The residents need a connection between those two sides: protecting the community's artistic and historical heritage can justify restricting construction on private land. We don't have to pretend that the proposed house already violates a code. We're looking for a principle that supports the residents' opposition despite the family's ownership and compliance with the existing rules.
Working the answers
- A
There is no historic building to preserve here. The residents want to preserve a landscape by preventing a new building. A rule protecting existing buildings doesn't cover that situation just because both concerns involve history.
- B
This recommends buying the property for public use. That could be a different way for a community to pursue preservation, if a purchase were possible. But it doesn't establish the residents' claimed basis for restricting construction on land the family still owns.
- C
This gives a right to the artist, not to the community. The painter has died, and the passage provides no demand from the painter that would invoke this rule. We cannot simply transfer a right held by the artist to everyone who values the painting.
- DCorrect
Owning land doesn't give an unlimited right to build when the community's artistic and historical interests are at stake. The residents claim this house would damage precisely those interests. D therefore connects their concern about heritage with a justification for limiting the family's construction rights.
- E
Blocking access to a historic site is different from changing a landscape shown in a painting. No one says this house would prevent people from reaching a historic site. E recommends a regulation for a problem we haven't been given, so it doesn't justify opposition to this particular house.
More Strengthen questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Strengthen questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.