Update: This story was revised Thursday to include comments from an attorney for Republic Ranch and Friday to include an additional comment from Brad Vance.

Dallas City Hall has a message for three nightclubs operating along Ross Avenue near downtown: Turn out the lights, the party's over.

City attorneys this week filed two suits in an attempt to shutter Republic Ranch, Pilikia and The Pretty Diver, claiming all three are illegal operations — bars the city says are pretending to be restaurants in a neighborhood where bars are not allowed by zoning.

The lawsuits, which followed a city inspection last weekend, are the latest step of a yearslong clash between nightlife spots who say they're not doing anything wrong and Bryan Place residents who say their neighborhood is overrun with drunken patrons and their cars.

Brad Vance, a homeowners association president, said the "issues have gone on for over three years, and this neighborhood has had enough."

"We have tried the neighborly route of asking for improved behavior," Vance said Thursday in an email. "We've done it multiple times, but all we've received is lip service and false promises."

The neighborhood — once a seedy stretch known for its used car lots — is blocks away from Deep Ellum and the Arts District and has been on the upswing in recent years. Development, especially of the residential variety, has sprouted up on Ross and nearby streets. More is in progress. Dallas ISD left its headquarters to be mostly torn down for apartments. A Tom Thumb, topped by apartments, is also under construction on nearby Live Oak Street.

But the bars have been a constant, even as they've changed hands and names.

When The Pretty Diver opened last fall, in the space formerly occupied by the Sunset Lounge, owners made it clear they always intended to open a bar — or, as promoter Matt Jones told CultureMap, "Dallas' first neighborhood glam dive bar." A review in the Dallas Observer in December said the mural-covered Pretty Diver "comes across as an Uptown parody of a dive bar," and that "the whole place seems designed to serve as an interesting Snapchat selfie background."

The Pretty Diver's certificate of occupancy says it's a "restaurant without drive-in service." It also hosts private events and had a hip-hop music festival scheduled July 14. The city's lawsuit says that "during events and at late hours, loud music and patrons are nuisance to the surrounding neighborhoods."

Steve Reese, the operator of The Pretty Diver, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

The Pretty Diver's entrances on Thursday had handwritten signs in pink construction paper that said, "No Dancing — City of Dallas."

Pilikia, in the former Three Sheets location, bills itself as a tiki bar. The name is a Hawaiian word for "trouble." The Dallas Observer declared in a review last year that the place was certainly troubled — as in, "it doesn't know if it's a laid-back tiki bar or a high-rolling nightclub, so it tries to be both."

City attorneys say it should be neither.

Assistant city attorney Andy Gilbert said this week there was also a recent shooting outside the clubs, as well as "sordid activities taking place inside" Pilikia.

Maj. Catrina Shead of the central patrol division said the shooting demanded police attention.

But the quality-of-life concerns — parking, public intoxication, arguments and loud noises — were mounting before then.

"We had a lot of complaints from community stakeholders," Shead said.

City Council member Philip Kingston, who represents the area, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. But attorneys and Vance say he has been advocating for the neighbors.

Republic Ranch was always advertised as a genuine eatery — a restaurant by Abel Gonzales, who is best known as the man who deep-fried Coke, cookie dough and butter at the State Fair of Texas. The spot has banners on fences along Ross telling people they can eat, drink and play there. Republic Ranch even has a delivery menu posted to GrubHub.

But Republic Ranch also occupies the former site of the Bungalow Beach Club, which means it has a swimming pool — which Bryan Place residents long complained was a magnet for noise and trouble.

City attorneys maintain the indoor eatery is just a cover for the backyard pool party.

The city is suing the landlord of the two businesses, who couldn't be reached through his catering company Thursday.

Jason Friedman, an attorney for Republic Ranch, said Thursday that the business hasn't done anything illegal and alleged some residents don't like the operator "because he's a minority business owner."

Vance said race had nothing to do with it and that he just wants Republic Ranch to be a good neighbor.

Senior assistant city attorney Chhunny Chhean said investigators went to Republic last weekend as part of a multi-department inspection. She described it as "a nightclub scene."

"People were scantily clad, because Republic has a pool, and it's definitely not what was intended in the [area], and we got the evidence together to show this is an illegal land use," she said.

In fact, the lawsuits accuse the venues of that very thing — "illegal land use," which in this case means offering dancing and DJs for a cover charge, which the city attorneys say is not allowed by the zoning along that stretch of Ross.

Friedman said Republic Ranch isn't charging cover and is "allowed to have a DJ play during dinner."

"It's hard for me to believe they're just going through and doing this," he said of the lawsuit.

Residents and city attorneys hope the ongoing legal fight will finally rid them of what they believe has been a problem.

"This has been bubbling up for a while now," Gilbert said. "The city thought they were going to come into compliance by pulling new permits and [certificates of occupancy] for the appropriate uses at the locations. But they have demonstrated they're still conducting the same illegal activities."