CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs have asked the city’s permission to put a 650-square-foot sign at Wrigley Field that may partially block views of the field from the surrounding rooftop businesses.

The rooftop owners have said they will file a lawsuit if the team puts up anything that cuts into their views. However, at least one city official is calling the application a positive development, even if it forces the courts to get involved in the dispute over renovation of the century-old ballpark.

“It gets this show on the road,” Alderman Pat O’Connor told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Now we have a finite time in which we’ll get an answer and get a project going.”

The Cubs filed a permit application after talks with the rooftop owners fell apart last week. The club owners also filed a defamation lawsuit against a stadium financing consultant who once advised the Cubs’ prior owner, the Tribune Co.

The team is planning a $500 million renovation for the ballpark that is expected to take five years. The Cubs want to expand the cramped clubhouse, improve training facilities and build a 175-room hotel nearby.

Ryan McLaughlin of the Wrigleyville Rooftops Association said the rooftop owners assembled a legal team “some time ago” in preparation for a court battle.