Parking Lot Complaints - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Fargo city leaders are taking the owner of one parking lot to court over its conditions...

And now, another may have come onto their radar, as well.

City leaders are suing the owner of a downtown property company over what they say is the owner's failure to pave a parking lot next to his bar, or add lighting or fencing to it.

The owner says it's not his fault -- it's the city's.

The Scheels Arena lot in South Fargo is also unpaved.

The manager there says that lot is only for overflow, for big events.

The city says they may not be in compliance, with the lack of paving.

But the two circumstances are different.

"Scheels does have some surface parking, and they're not downtown. Rick Engen has to have the lighting, the fencing, and the surface -- that's a downtown requirement," says Fargo City Planner Jim Gilmour.

The city planner also says they've been unsuccessfully negotiating with the downtown parking lot owner for ten years, much longer than they've been dealing with the Arena.

For his part, the downtown lot owner says the city never properly filled the lot after a fire near there, and that was before he even bought the property.