Berliner v. Feldman

This bill for declaratory relief concerns rights under the Rockport zoning by-law of the owner of a preexisting nonconforming inn, principally his rights following the destruction of the inn by fire.

Turk’s Head Inn (the Inn) was operated as a summer hotel in Rockport from 1888 through 1963 when operation of the Inn ceased, although, as the judge ruled, the use was not abandoned in the zoning sense. See Morin v. Board of Appeals of Leominster, 352 Mass. 620, 623, and cases cited. Since 1951, when Rockport adopted zoning, the premises have been in an area zoned for single residence use, in…