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A troubled shopping center’s issues with the City of Marco Island continue to escalate.

In April, the plaza’s developer Leon Agami through his company Venetian Investments filed suit in Collier County Circuit Court against the city over the outdoor restaurant seating allowed at the plaza, Marco Walk, 599 S. Collier Blvd.

The complaint contends the city’s utility department acknowledged, through the acceptance of impact fees, that the plaza was entitled to more seating than the city’s community development department has determined.

The community development department has based its restrictions on a variance, or an exception from city code, the plaza received in 2005. It’s been almost a year since numerous inconsistencies between the variance and the plaza’s development were revealed, including an overage in outdoor seating.

The lawsuit also maintains outdoor seating available at the plaza prior to the variance’s passage should not be counted against the plaza’s limit.

One curious argument in the complaint is that it contends three restaurants in the plaza — DaVinci’s, Nacho Mama’s and Captain Brien’s — had outdoor seating prior to Marco Island enacting its code of ordinances in 2000. DaVinci’s and Nacho Mama’s didn’t move into their current locations in the plaza until after the variance’s passage in 2005 and Captain Brien’s didn’t have any presence in the plaza until after 2005, either.

The lawsuit mirrors an administrative appeal of a Marco code board ruling that Agami filed in circuit court in February. Marco’s code board ruled the plaza was out of compliance on its outdoor seating, but ultimately did not impose a fine. There’s yet to be a hearing scheduled in that case.

Marco Island City Attorney Alan Gabriel declined comment because the city had not been served with the lawsuit as of late April. He added that the city was preparing a response in the appeal of the code board decision. Reached on his cell phone, Agami declined comment.