Building Inspector of Mansfield v. Curvin

The sole issue in this case is whether a section of the zoning by-law of the town of Mansfield prohibiting the maintenance of a piggery conflicts with The Zoning Act (Act), G. L. c. 40A, § 3.

The case was presented to a Superior Court judge on a statement of agreed facts, from which we outline the background relevant to this appeal. The defendant owns about seventeen acres of land, all in an agricultural zone, in Mansfield; he purchased the property in 1980. The defendant operates a piggery on the land, and at the time of the hearing there were about sixty pigs there. After the defendant…