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<br />Zoning Bulletin <br /> <br />from agricultural to commercial use. Further, use of the land as an l=~--') <br />auto auction as part of a planned development was consistent with <br />the uses in the surrounding area since. other nearby construction. <br />The court determined that the planned development was not spot <br />zoning or special legislation and that the process leading to the <br />zoning change was fair. <br />Povsha appealed. <br /> <br />Decision: Case dismissed as moot. <br /> <br />Povsha conceded on appeal that the damage in this case had <br />already been done-in other words, the city granted the zoning <br />change and the auction facility was completed before the trial be- <br />gan. Because the court could no longer grant effective relief in the <br />case, it held that the appeal was moot. <br />Mootness was a threshold issue that had to be resolved before <br />addressing the underlying dispute. The court had held consistently <br />that "a moot question [was] one which existed once but because of <br />an event or happening ... ceased to exist and no longer present[ed] <br />an actual controversy." <br />In his initial complaint, Povsha requested that the court enjoin <br />the city from implementing approval of a final plat map and from <br />approving the subdivision and that any further proceedings be <br />stayed; the court subsequently denied Povsha's request for a pre- <br />liminary injunction. <br />Povsha could have appealed the trial court's denial of his request <br />for injunctive relief, but he failed to do so. He also could have <br />asked the lower court and the appeals court to stay the zoning <br />change and subdivision proceedings in the city and county before <br />those proceedings became final. Again, he failed to do so. <br />The appeals court noted that if it could not restore the parties <br />to their original position, the appeal becomes moot. Having relin- <br />quished the two remedies which would have preserved the status <br />quo pending the appeals court's final resolution of the merits of his <br />claim, there no longer was an available, effective relief. <br /> <br />Conditional Approval-Town conditions development <br />approval on conveyance of open space <br /> <br />Abutting landowners claim specific location of open space makes <br />future development impossible <br /> <br />Citation: Ranieri v. Board of Appeals of Town of Wrentham, 2007 <br />WL 4340567 (Mass. Land Ct. 2007), judgment entered, 2007 WL <br />4335489 (Mass. Land Ct. 2007) <br /> <br />10 <br /> <br />138 <br /> <br />......=,,-'- <br />,- " <br />~ <br />.. <br /> <br />, <br />.....-/ <br />