A City Plans to Attract New Citizens With New Housing and New Facilities

Question: A city plans to attract new citizens with new housing and new facilities such as parks, recreation centers, and libraries. One component of the city's plan is to require that developers seeking permission to build this new housing provide these additional facilities at no cost to the city.

Which of the following, if true, would point to a possible flaw in the city's plan?

(A) Developers would pass along their costs to the buyer; thereby raising the cost of housing units beyond the ability of likely purchasers to afford them.
(B) Light, non polluting industries have located in the area, offering more jobs and better-paying jobs than do the more established industries in the area.
(C) Other towns and cities nearby have yet to embark on comparable plans to attract new citizens
(D) Most developers see the extra expense of providing municipal facilities as simply one of the many costs of doing business.
(E) Studies show that purchasers of new houses, especially first-time buyers, rank recreational resources as an important factor in deciding to buy a particular house.

“A city plans to attract new citizens with new housing and new facilities” – this is a GMAT Critical Reasoning question. This particular GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘GMAT Critical Reasoning, By Manhattan Prep, 6th Edition’. In this particular topic, candidates need to choose the option that best suits the passage. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. Critical reasoning in GMAT requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument. The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: A

Explanation:

We need to first find the conclusion, which is : to attract new citizens with new housing and new facilities such as parks, recreation centers and libraries.

We need to think about how this plan can be flawed in spite of providing new houses to people at no extra cost to the city.

The Pre-thinking is:

Plan of the City: The plan of the city is to attract new citizens with new housing and new facilities.

Some other facts presented: One component of the city's plan is to require that developers seeking permission to build this new housing provide these additional facilities at no cost to the city.

Based on the question, we need to identify the option that is a possible flaw in the city’s plan. The option should explain why the city's plan of attracting new citizens may fail. Let us check the options:

(A) Developers would pass along their costs to the buyer; thereby raising the cost of housing units beyond the ability of likely purchasers to afford them. - The costs of the developer in providing such facilities will have to be regarded by the developer. This should be included as part of the cost of building the housing which is to be sold. Since the option suggests, the homes in question may have prices that are too high to attract new residents, it is a flaw in the city’s plan. Hence, this is the correct answer.
(B) Light, non polluting industries have located in the area, offering more jobs and better-paying jobs than do the more established industries in the area. - This option states that more and better paying jobs will be provided. This makes the city more attractive and strengthens the possibility of the city attracting citizens. Hence, this is not a flaw. We can eliminate it.
(C) Other towns and cities nearby have yet to embark on comparable plans to attract new citizens - This also strengthens the option and chances of making the city more attractive. Since this does not flaw the statement, it is incorrect.
(D) Most developers see the extra expense of providing municipal facilities as simply one of the many costs of doing business. - This implies that the developers would be amenable to the condition and thus does not explain why the plan would fail. Hence, we can eliminate this option.
(E) Studies show that purchasers of new houses, especially first-time buyers, rank recreational resources as an important factor in deciding to buy a particular house. - This also strengthens the chances but we are looking for a flaw. Hence, it is incorrect.

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