In Balcam v. Town of Hingham, 41 Mass App. Ct. 260, 669 N.E.2d 461 (1996), the trial court issued a mandatory preliminary injunction in an action under G. L. c. 231A, ordering the Hingham building commissioner to issue an occupancy permit to the plaintiffs. Balcam, 41 Mass. App. Ct. at 261. The town argued that before an occupancy permit could issue, the plaintiffs would have to comply with, or obtain waivers or variances from, the town zoning and conservation by-laws relating to wetland regulations that applied to their property. Id. at 262. On the town's appeal from the Superior Court's order, plaintiffs argued that a previous DEP final order made pursuant to the Wetlands Protection Act created an exception to the ordinary requirement of exhaustion of administrative remedies. Id. at 267. The Appeals Court reversed the order, holding that the plaintiffs' failure to exhaust their remedies was fatal. In so ruling, however, the Court stated: "the thrust of the plaintiffs' argument ... is that a prior permit ... entitles the plaintiff to proceed without further review by local authorities. The gravamen of this argument concerns the effect of the permit, rather than any interpretation of the by-law." Id. The Court continued, "in such circumstances, exhaustion of administrative remedies is required." Id.