NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Clerk/Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, Supreme Court Building, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release.
THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
___________________________
Hillsborough-southern judicial district
No. 98-079
ELAINE M. SUNDBERG & a.
v.
GREENVILLE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT & a.
THEO A. DE WINTER
v.
TOWN OF GREENVILLE
November 30, 1999
Douglas, Robinson, Leonard & Garvey, P.C., of Concord (C. Kevin Leonard on the brief and orally), for Theo A. de Winter.
Matthew W. Glavey, of New Ipswich, by brief and orally, for the Sundbergs.
Carol A. Rolf, of Amherst, by brief and orally, for the Town of Greenville.
JOHNSON, J. Theo A. de Winter appeals the order of the Superior Court (Hampsey, J.) reversing the decision of the Greenville Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) that a welding supply business operated by Elaine M. Sundberg, Douglas J. Sundberg, Jr., and Kristin G. Sundberg (the Sundbergs) no longer qualified as a customary home occupation and finding that de Winter's appeal from the ZBA's grant of a variance to the Sundbergs is moot. We reverse in part, vacate in part, and remand.
The trial court found the following facts. In April 1990, Douglas Sundberg, Sr., now deceased, began operating a welding supply business from a mobile home he owned on a half-acre tract of land in Greenville. De Winter owns land abutting the Sundbergs' property. The property on which the business is located is part of a "rural/agricultural" zoning district. See Zoning Regulations and Ordinances for Greenville, New Hampshire