The city of Pontiac, several miles northwest of Detroit, is continuing its legal dispute with the Ottawa Towers office buildings this year over the use of an adjacent parking garage.
According to the city, the Ottawa Towers has no right to allow its tenants to park in the structure, claiming that the structure is unsafe and is scheduled for demolition. The businesses at the towers who use the structure daily argue that because of the closeness of the parking garage to the towers, they should be granted an easement and allowed to continue to park there.
When the city announced its plans to demolish the parking structure in July 2012, the Ottawa Towers filed an injunction against the city which Oakland County District Court Judge Michael Warren granted at the end of November. The injunction currently blocks the demolition of the structure until litigation has ended.
In December, the owners of the towers sued the city, Oakland County and the Oakland County Building Authority pointing out that they had signed a lease agreement to use the parking structure and were only notified of the termination of their parking agreement four months after the city had announced the $2 million demolition project.
Although no future court dates have been set to resolve this litigation dispute, it is likely that the district court judge handling this case will have to apply the appropriate laws that pertain to landlord-tenant matters and all evidence will have to be taken into consideration in this situation before an appropriate decision can be made.
Source: The Oakland Press, “City tries to block cars from parking in Phoenix Center,” Dustin Blitchok, Dec. 19, 2012
