A bakery that has served up sweet treats in Bixby Knolls for nearly 70 years may be forced to shut down — and there’s not much the owner can do about it.

That’s because the business, Alsace Lorraine Fine Pastries, is tangled up in a dispute between the city and its landlord, Khien Chi Ngo, over a past decision to rent the space next door to a medical marijuana dispensary, even though Long Beach had banned such businesses in 2012.

Between March 2012 and August 2014 the city issued 424 citations against Ngo, tickets that today total nearly $1.2 million with penalties and interest, according to city documents. During that time, Long Beach also revoked his commercial business license, which meant he wasn’t allowed to lease any of his properties at 4332-4336 Atlantic Avenue.

But he continued renting the spaces out, and in 2014, sold the bakery business to new owners who say they were unaware of the existing conflict.

The bakery was first opened in 1947 by a German immigrant and his wife and some of the original recipes that have been passed down through the years are still used today.

Representing the bakery is attorney Arthur Travieso of Rallo Law Firm, who says Alsace Lorraine has been unable to get a business license from the city for about two years now, although it does hold a valid health permit.

And on Tuesday the City Council is expected to issue a final denial of a business license to the owner, a decision that cannot be appealed again.

Travieso said he and his client believe the city is being impractical.

“If you make it impossible for Ngo to rent to a legitimate business, you’re putting that person in a place where the only business they will rent to are ones that will be far less likeable to the general public,” he said.

But Deputy City Attorney Monica Kilaita said the city cannot allow the property owner to lease the business without a commercial business license, which will not be reinstated until the liens are settled. She said they have received no “substantial” offer from Ngo to settle the financial dispute.

That could be, in part, because Ngo is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the city over its medical marijuana ban, which he argues was unconstitutional. That issue is currently playing out in the state court of appeals, City Attorney Charles Parkin said.

Blair Cohn, executive director of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association, said he arranged a conversation between the city and property owner about a year ago after Ngo came to him with concerns about the situation.

But, he said, Ngo wasn’t willing to pay anything to the city so things remained unchanged.

In what Cohnn called a “year of fruition” for Bixby Knolls, an area that has seen a number of new businesses open up, including restaurants, breweries and retail markets, he said the ongoing conflict has been a “black eye” for the blossoming corridor.

Ngo did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Still, Travieso is hopeful the city may reconsider its fines against Ngo now that medical marijuana businesses are allowed in the city. Residents voted on Nov. 8 to repeal the ban rooted at the center of the years-long dispute.

“It’s ironic because this whole thing is tangentially connected to this larger controversy in Long Beach about marijuana … but if the attitudes are changing then why is there this vestigial resistance to my client’s ability to run a bakery?” Travieso said. “It would be a refreshing change of pace to see a city be practical.”

City Prosecutor Doug Haubert said in light of the new laws, his office may consider reevaluating marijuana-related lawsuits on a case-by-case basis.

“In some instances, a dismissal of the case might be appropriate, but in other instances, just because the law changed doesn’t mean that someone shouldn’t have consequences because they violated the law when the conduct was illegal,” he said.

The council meets Tuesday at 5 p.m., at 333 W. Ocean Blvd.