FARGO - James Pete Sabo, the owner of a house considered dangerously dilapidated by city officials, is suing the city claiming his property rights have been violated.

City commissioners received and filed the suit Monday, Oct. 8, about a week after the suit was filed.

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Sabo is seeking, among other things, to regain control of the house at 427 15th Ave. S. to make repairs and win damages of at least $156,000.

City leaders had earlier condemned the house, requiring Sabo to tear it down or the city would do it for him and charge him for it. City inspectors had determined the house is dangerous because it was so badly damaged, it had lost more than half its value. Neighboring homeowners, who have complained about the house's condition for years, urged city leaders to tear it down when condemnation proceedings began in August.

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Sabo said a tenant with a rent-to-own arrangement had been responsible for a lot of the damage, and later he, Sabo, had been unable to fix it because of ill health.

Jonathan Garaas, Sabo's attorney, said the city didn't give Sabo a fair chance to make repairs because it revoked his building permit. City officials said he kept taking out permits but never finished repairs.

Sabo, who owns many rental homes in the city, is best known as an owner of the Bison Turf bar.

In other news:

-- City leaders voted 5-0 to raise fines for four bicycle-related violations, including bicyclists who violate traffic laws, from $5 or no fines to $20. This was the third and final vote. City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn said he felt fines for bicyclists and motorists should be the same for similar violations.

-- City leaders voted 5-0 to change city codes to specify how dormers, structures with windows protruding from sloping roofs, are treated when it comes to height restrictions imposed on garages or sheds. City staff asked for the change in response to a local architect's complaint.

For sloping roofs, the city measures from the ground to a point halfway between the roof peak and the eaves. Dormers, which are exempt, can add more habitable space to the attic of the garage or shed without violating height restrictions. The architect, Scott Dahms, proposed an extra long dormer but was rejected by city staff who said the dormer's roof was so long that it basically was a second roof; staff said he'd have to lower his building height given that determination.

Dahms complained that the city's height restrictions didn't specify dormers. Ultimately, he agreed to change his design, but city law would now specify that dormers can't be more than a third the length of a roof.

-- City leaders voted 5-0 to set a condemnation hearing against the house at 826 10th St. N. on Nov. 5. The building is owned by Lee J. Allen through his company ATD Properties. Building inspectors reported that the building is so badly deteriorated that it's lost more than half its value, one criteria for declaring it dangerous.