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OTTAWA – Architectural professionals and community groups are going to court to halt work on a controversial monument to victims of communism.

READ MORE: Controversial monument in Ottawa for victims of communism to be smaller

The groups have begun an application in Federal Court challenging the National Capital Commission’s decision to break ground for the project.

The lawsuit by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Heritage Ottawa, and architects Barry Padolsky and Shirley Blumberg alleges that the NCC violated its own procedures and acted illegally in deciding to prepare the monument site, despite having no finalized and approved design for it.

WATCH: Protest over planned victims of communism memorial

The monument has sparked controversy because it is seen as an ideologically driven project by the Harper government that would be out of sync with its surroundings.

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The NCC – an unelected body of federal appointees that oversees land in and around the national capital – has ten days to oppose the application.

The commission said Thursday that the monument would occupy about two-thirds the space on a prime piece of land near the Supreme Court of Canada than originally planned, and would only be half as tall.