Property owners applied for writ of mandamus to compel county planning and zoning administrator and the planning and zoning commission to revoke a building permit for a hog confinement unit.
Following a bench trial, the Circuit Court denied the application, and property owners appealed.
The Supreme Court of South Dakota held that:
- Proposed hog containment facility was a permitted use without the need for a variance or conditional use permit, and
- Even if application for building permit did not conform to ordinance’s requirement for a detailed site plan, mandamus would not be granted, when the facility had already been completed at the time of trial.
A proposed hog containment facility, which was located in an agricultural district, was a permitted use without the need for a variance or conditional use permit. Applicant owned the land where the facility was to be built, such land exceeded the minimum 25 acres for a farm or ranch, applicant testified he farmed for a living, and aerial photographs clearly showed the land surrounding the proposed facility was being used for cultivation.
Even if application for building permit for a hog confinement unit did not conform to zoning ordinance’s requirements for a detailed site plan, mandamus would not be granted, when the facility had already been completed at the time of trial, and when the facility was a permitted use under the ordinance as part of a farm or ranch.