Laurence, J.
Joseph Petrucci and six family members reside in his home on a 53,000 square foot lot in Westwood’s “single residence” zoning district. In 1995, he proposed to establish a child care facility in a barn located on his property. After interior renovations to the barn that would leave its exterior and footprint unchanged, the facility would serve forty-seven children daily and be staffed by six adults. The Westwood build[819]*819ing commissioner (commissioner) denied Petrucci’s application for a building permit to begin the renovations. The denial was affirmed by the Westwood board of appeals (board), which agreed with the commissioner that Petrucci was not entitled to the “child care facility exemption” he was relying on under G. L. c. 40A, § 3, third par., because the proposed use was not properly either “primary, accessory or incidental.”1 Following Petrucci’s appeal pursuant to G. L. c. 40A, § 17, a Land Court judge agreed with Petrucci that the claimed exemption for a child care facility under § 3 applied and granted him partial summary judgment allowing the desired use.
The judge remanded the matter to the commissioner for review of Petrucci’s application on the issue of the applicability of the “reasonable regulations” that the statute permits municipalities to impose on such a facility (see note 1, supra).. The commissioner thereafter rejected the application because the barn failed to comply with the zoning by-law’s rear yard, side yard, and height requirements. The board again affirmed the commissioner. After trial on the issue of the reasonableness of applying those regulations to the proposed project, the Land Court judge again upheld Petrucci, rating that the imposition of the town’s dimensional restrictions was unreasonable and ordering the board to issue the requested building permit. On the board’s appeal, we affirm.
1. Applicability of the § 3 exemption. The commissioner initially denied Petrucci’s application on his view that the proposed use “would result in the establishment of two principal] uses” on the property and was “not clearly accessory or incidental to a residential use.” The board concurred, [820]*820because the proposed facility “was so intensive” as to constitute a primary use of the property, and it could find “no authority” for “two . . . primary uses [to] ... be situated on one property.” The board further determined that the facility was not sufficiently “subordinate and related to the primary [residential] use of the property . . . [to] be construed [as] . . . accessory or incidental.” The judge concluded that the board’s reasoning was legally erroneous. He observed that nothing in the zoning by-law prohibited either child care facilities or the existence of more than one primary or principal use on a lot. He noted that the by-law even appeared to contemplate the possibility of multiple primary uses.* 2
The judge’s chief basis for endorsing Petrucci’s reliance on the § 3 exemption, however, was his rejection of the board’s restrictive construction of the statute. The board focused (both below and here) on the words “primary, accessory or incidental” in the third paragraph of § 3. It contended that the difference between those terms and the language of the immediately preceding (second) paragraph of § 3, providing a zoning exemption for educational or religious uses,3 betokened a much narrower exemption intended by the Legislature for child care facilities.
The board’s argument runs thus: Whereas the exemption of the second paragraph of § 3 speaks broadly and generally of “use for religious ... or for educational purposes,” the third paragraph requires that the child care facility “use” be either “primary, accessory or incidental.” Each of those words must be read literally so as to give them their customary meaning. [821]*821Since the principal use of the Petracci property is already residential, the child care facility cannot be a “primary" use, because “[i]t is . . . clear that you cannot have two primary uses [of the property] either under the by-law or by definition.”4 Nor can the facility pass muster as an “accessory” or “incidental” use under the zoning decisions construing those terms, which hold that such a use not only must be minor in significance to the primary use but also must have a normal or customary subordinate relationship to that use. Compare Harvard v. Maxant, 360 Mass. 432, 438 (1971); Henry v. Board of Appeals of Dunstable, 418 Mass. 841, 844-846 (1994); Gallagher v. Board of Appeals of Acton, 44 Mass. App. Ct. 906, 907 (1997); Maselbas v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of N. Attleborough, ante 54, 56-57 (1998). Given the size of the facility (six adults and forty-seven children) in relation to the several Petrucci family members already there engaged in “typical family” residential living, it will be so comparatively large, intensive, and separate an operation as to be neither accessory nor incidental.5
Assuming, without deciding, that the proposed child care facility cannot be deemed “accessory” or “incidental” to a residential use, we nonetheless conclude that the board was wrong and the judge correct in determining that the facility qualified for the exemption of the third paragraph of G. L. c. 40A, § 3. We need look no further than the language of the statute, which states that a zoning by-law may not “prohibit, or [822]*822require a special permit for, the use of . . . structures, or the expansion of existing structures, for the primary . . . purpose of operating a child care facility.” Petrucci’s proposal falls squarely within that injunction. His existing structure, the barn, will be used (whether or not expanded) for the primary, indeed the sole, purpose of housing a child care facility operation; it cannot, therefore, be prohibited or subject to special permit requirements.6
Even were the board correct in its assertion that the West-wood by-law does not permit multiple primary uses on a single lot, such a prohibition is exactly what the statute declares impermissible with respect to child care facilities. The board’s reiterated assertions that the exemption applies only where the child care facility can be characterized as the sole primary use “of the property” overlook the second half of the disjunctive statutory phrase, “use of land or structures.” The board thereby runs afoul of Watros v. Greater Lynn Mental Health & Retardation Assn., Inc., 421 Mass. 106 (1995), dealing with the educational purpose exemption of the second paragraph of § 3.
In dismissing the argument of abutters who challenged the proposed use on residential property of a bam to house and educate retarded adults — that the exemption applied only when the educational use occupied the entire property — the court in Watros stressed that the second paragraph “speaks not once, but twice, of ‘land or structures’ as the focus of the exemption.” 421 Mass. at 113. The “constrictive result” flowing from the abutters’ reading of the statute was “neither required by the language of the statute nor consistent with its purpose,” id. at 114, which was “to prevent local interference with the use of real property” — whether of land or of structures thereon :— for the exempt purposes identified in the statute. Id. at 113. Here, also, the plain language of the statute (which, as in Watros,
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Laurence, J.
Joseph Petrucci and six family members reside in his home on a 53,000 square foot lot in Westwood’s “single residence” zoning district. In 1995, he proposed to establish a child care facility in a barn located on his property. After interior renovations to the barn that would leave its exterior and footprint unchanged, the facility would serve forty-seven children daily and be staffed by six adults. The Westwood build[819]*819ing commissioner (commissioner) denied Petrucci’s application for a building permit to begin the renovations. The denial was affirmed by the Westwood board of appeals (board), which agreed with the commissioner that Petrucci was not entitled to the “child care facility exemption” he was relying on under G. L. c. 40A, § 3, third par., because the proposed use was not properly either “primary, accessory or incidental.”1 Following Petrucci’s appeal pursuant to G. L. c. 40A, § 17, a Land Court judge agreed with Petrucci that the claimed exemption for a child care facility under § 3 applied and granted him partial summary judgment allowing the desired use.
The judge remanded the matter to the commissioner for review of Petrucci’s application on the issue of the applicability of the “reasonable regulations” that the statute permits municipalities to impose on such a facility (see note 1, supra).. The commissioner thereafter rejected the application because the barn failed to comply with the zoning by-law’s rear yard, side yard, and height requirements. The board again affirmed the commissioner. After trial on the issue of the reasonableness of applying those regulations to the proposed project, the Land Court judge again upheld Petrucci, rating that the imposition of the town’s dimensional restrictions was unreasonable and ordering the board to issue the requested building permit. On the board’s appeal, we affirm.
1. Applicability of the § 3 exemption. The commissioner initially denied Petrucci’s application on his view that the proposed use “would result in the establishment of two principal] uses” on the property and was “not clearly accessory or incidental to a residential use.” The board concurred, [820]*820because the proposed facility “was so intensive” as to constitute a primary use of the property, and it could find “no authority” for “two . . . primary uses [to] ... be situated on one property.” The board further determined that the facility was not sufficiently “subordinate and related to the primary [residential] use of the property . . . [to] be construed [as] . . . accessory or incidental.” The judge concluded that the board’s reasoning was legally erroneous. He observed that nothing in the zoning by-law prohibited either child care facilities or the existence of more than one primary or principal use on a lot. He noted that the by-law even appeared to contemplate the possibility of multiple primary uses.* 2
The judge’s chief basis for endorsing Petrucci’s reliance on the § 3 exemption, however, was his rejection of the board’s restrictive construction of the statute. The board focused (both below and here) on the words “primary, accessory or incidental” in the third paragraph of § 3. It contended that the difference between those terms and the language of the immediately preceding (second) paragraph of § 3, providing a zoning exemption for educational or religious uses,3 betokened a much narrower exemption intended by the Legislature for child care facilities.
The board’s argument runs thus: Whereas the exemption of the second paragraph of § 3 speaks broadly and generally of “use for religious ... or for educational purposes,” the third paragraph requires that the child care facility “use” be either “primary, accessory or incidental.” Each of those words must be read literally so as to give them their customary meaning. [821]*821Since the principal use of the Petracci property is already residential, the child care facility cannot be a “primary" use, because “[i]t is . . . clear that you cannot have two primary uses [of the property] either under the by-law or by definition.”4 Nor can the facility pass muster as an “accessory” or “incidental” use under the zoning decisions construing those terms, which hold that such a use not only must be minor in significance to the primary use but also must have a normal or customary subordinate relationship to that use. Compare Harvard v. Maxant, 360 Mass. 432, 438 (1971); Henry v. Board of Appeals of Dunstable, 418 Mass. 841, 844-846 (1994); Gallagher v. Board of Appeals of Acton, 44 Mass. App. Ct. 906, 907 (1997); Maselbas v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of N. Attleborough, ante 54, 56-57 (1998). Given the size of the facility (six adults and forty-seven children) in relation to the several Petrucci family members already there engaged in “typical family” residential living, it will be so comparatively large, intensive, and separate an operation as to be neither accessory nor incidental.5
Assuming, without deciding, that the proposed child care facility cannot be deemed “accessory” or “incidental” to a residential use, we nonetheless conclude that the board was wrong and the judge correct in determining that the facility qualified for the exemption of the third paragraph of G. L. c. 40A, § 3. We need look no further than the language of the statute, which states that a zoning by-law may not “prohibit, or [822]*822require a special permit for, the use of . . . structures, or the expansion of existing structures, for the primary . . . purpose of operating a child care facility.” Petrucci’s proposal falls squarely within that injunction. His existing structure, the barn, will be used (whether or not expanded) for the primary, indeed the sole, purpose of housing a child care facility operation; it cannot, therefore, be prohibited or subject to special permit requirements.6
Even were the board correct in its assertion that the West-wood by-law does not permit multiple primary uses on a single lot, such a prohibition is exactly what the statute declares impermissible with respect to child care facilities. The board’s reiterated assertions that the exemption applies only where the child care facility can be characterized as the sole primary use “of the property” overlook the second half of the disjunctive statutory phrase, “use of land or structures.” The board thereby runs afoul of Watros v. Greater Lynn Mental Health & Retardation Assn., Inc., 421 Mass. 106 (1995), dealing with the educational purpose exemption of the second paragraph of § 3.
In dismissing the argument of abutters who challenged the proposed use on residential property of a bam to house and educate retarded adults — that the exemption applied only when the educational use occupied the entire property — the court in Watros stressed that the second paragraph “speaks not once, but twice, of ‘land or structures’ as the focus of the exemption.” 421 Mass. at 113. The “constrictive result” flowing from the abutters’ reading of the statute was “neither required by the language of the statute nor consistent with its purpose,” id. at 114, which was “to prevent local interference with the use of real property” — whether of land or of structures thereon :— for the exempt purposes identified in the statute. Id. at 113. Here, also, the plain language of the statute (which, as in Watros, speaks not once but twice of “land or structures”) and its manifest intent — to broaden, rather than narrow, the opportunities for establishing child care facilities in the Commonwealth7 — overwhelm the board’s constrictive effort to parse any [823]*823substantial child care facility on a residential property out of the statute.8
[824]*8242. Reasonableness of regulations. As in Campbell v. City Council of Lynn, 415 Mass. 772, 111 & n.6 (1993), we are concerned with a prior nonconforming structure. Despite the Campbell precedent, however, there was no inquiry as to whether alterations necessary to transform the barn into a child care facility would take it outside the protection granted by G. L. c. 40A, § 6, to prior nonconforming structures. Pursuant to G. L. c. 40A, § 3, there could be no denial, of the right to use the bam as a child care facility. Accordingly, analysis pursuant to § 6 would not turn on any impact of the use of the bam as a child care facility but on whether the bam structure, as altered, would be substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing nonconforming structure.
This case was decided in the Land Court solely on the basis of G. L. c. 40A, § 3, third par., and, while it appears unlikely that the proposed renovations of the barn would fail the § 6 test, the record does not invite resolution under § 6. In any event, we conclude that Petmcci is entitled to relief based on § 3 and that there is no reason to require proceedings under § 6. See Campbell v. City Council of Lynn, 415 Mass. at 777-778 n.6.
The judge ruled that Petmcci had successfully demonstrated the unreasonableness of the dimensional requirements that the commissioner and the board imposed upon the barn. The relevant sections of the by-law require a side yard width of twenty feet and a rear yard depth of thirty feet, with a maximum building height of twenty-five feet. The bam is over thirty-four feet high and is located only twelve feet from both the side and rear lot lines. Compliance with the zoning requirements is possible only if the bam is physically relocated on the lot.9
The parties agree that the controlling authority on the reason[825]*825ableness of the application of zoning regulations to exempt uses under G. L. c. 40A, § 3, is Trustees of Tufts College v. Medford, 415 Mass. 753 (1993),10 which announced an ad hoc, fact-specific approach to resolving disputes in most § 3 situations:
“[T]he question of the reasonableness of a local zoning requirement, as applied to a proposed . . . [exempt] use, will depend on the particular facts of each case. Because local zoning laws are intended to be uniformly applied, an [applicant] . . . making challenges similar to those made by Tufts will bear the burden of proving that the local requirements are unreasonable as applied to its proposed project. The . . . [applicant] might do so by demonstrating that compliance would substantially diminish or detract from the usefulness of a proposed structure, or impair the character of the . . . [applicant’s property], without appreciably advancing the municipality’s legitimate concerns. Excessive cost of compliance with a requirement imposed [by the zoning ordinance] . . . , without significant gain in terms of municipal concerns, might also qualify as unreasonable regulation of an . . . [exempt] use.” (Footnote omitted.)
415 Mass. at 759-760. The judge’s conclusion, that enforcing Westwood’s dimensional controls in Petrucci’s circumstances would be unreasonable, represented a proper application of the factors set forth in Tufts College.
Based upon the trial testimony of Petrucci’s expert witnesses on zoning issues and historic buildings and of Petrucci himself (who had been in the construction business for thirty-five
[826]*826years),11 the judge relied on the following findings and undisputed facts:12 The two-story, 4,960 square foot bam was built between 1840 and 1850 and is “a wonderful example” of the transitional “Greek Revival Italianate” style. As such, it is “a rare building form” that possesses historic and architectural merit deserving of preservation. It is surrounded by mature trees and particularly dense foliage on the sides closest to adjoining lots. In order to comply with the by-law by relocating the bam elsewhere on Petrucci’s lot, numerous mature trees would have to be cut down and removed (from both the old and the new locations), a new foundation excavated, the entire bam lifted up and moved to the new foundation, and its roof reconstmcted to lower its height. All of that compliance work not only would destroy the barn’s unique Italianate cupola and Palladian window, but also would adversely change the massing of the structure, disturb the sense of the building’s continuity, and min both its historical character and architectural integrity. The cost to Petrucci to move the bam would be approximately $150,000, beyond the cost of renovating it to serve as a child care facility.13 The municipality’s legitimate concerns served by the setback and height requirements in the by-law — safety, aesthetics, and privacy14 — would all be negatively affected by the [827]*827relocation of Petrucci’s barn. In its new, unscreened location, the barn would be significantly closer and more visible to Petrucci’s residence and to neighboring homes. As a result, the potential fire danger would be increased, the privacy of the Petruccis and their neighbors would be reduced, and the loss of so many trees would adversely impair the community’s character. Were the bam not moved and the child care facility abandoned, all of the present zoning infirmities would continue to exist.
In light of this evidence, the judge determined that imposition of the town’s dimensional requirements on the project would levy excessive costs of compliance on Petrucci and effectively deny the use of the premises for a child care facility; would serve no valid goals of municipal zoning regulation, see Campbell v. City Council of Lynn, 415 Mass. at 779; and would, in fact, detrimentally affect neighborhood safety, aesthetics, and privacy. Therefore, he was satisfied that Petrucci had carried his burden under Tufts College of showing the unreasonableness of requiring compliance with those requirements. We agree.15 Contrast Tufts College, 415 Mass. at 762-764 (challenged zoning requirements were not shown to be unreasonable as applied to project because applicant failed to put in any evidence regarding estimated cost or difficulty or hardship of compliance, whereas municipality demonstrated that compliance would enhance safety and ease serious parking problems in the affected area).
3. Judge’s ordering of the permit. The amended final judgment ordered the board, over its objection, to issue Petrucci a building permit for the child care facility. The board charged that such an order erroneously deprived abutters of their appel[828]*828late rights under G. L. c. 40A, § 17. The board’s theory was that so long as it was defending its decisions upholding the commissioner, abutters were adequately represented and not aggrieved; but that they might become aggrieved, on bases other than those relied on by the board, when the board issued the building permit. The judge observed that the board had failed to state that any such potential abutters even existed (much less to identify them or their supposedly novel, separate grievances) or to suggest any additional issues that might be raised by such hypothetical abutters. Consequently, he rejected the board’s position as sheer speculation supported by no relevant authority. He was satisfied that the facts in this case encompassed every criticism of the project which an abutter might reasonably raise in a § 17 appeal and reflected the board’s protective persistence in pursuing all legitimate issues. The judge’s refusal to allow further delay in implementing Petrucci’s lawful project appears eminently sound to us. It was an exercise of his discretion under § 17 to grant such relief “as justice and equity may require,” since it is clear from the record that the same ultimate result would ensue from an unspecific remand as that effected by the challenged order. See Chira v. Planning Bd. of Tisbury, 3 Mass. App. Ct. 433, 439-440 (1975), and cases cited; Selectman of Stockbridge v. Monument Inn, Inc., 8 Mass. App. Ct. 158, 163 (1979), and cases cited; S.C., 14 Mass. App. Ct. 957 (1982). Cf. Lapenas v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Brockton, 352 Mass. 530, 533-534 (1967); MacGibbon v. Board of Appeals of Duxbury, 369 Mass. 512, 520 (1976); Leominster Materials Corp. v. Board of Appeals of Leominster, 42 Mass. App. Ct. 458, 463 (1997).
Judgment affirmed.