The city and North Shore casino owner Don Barden have teamed up to try to thwart a court appeal filed by the Riverlife Task Force over the size of a garage being built behind the gambling palace.

In a brief filed Friday, they jointly asked the state Supreme Court to throw out the Riverlife appeal, claiming that the litigation is without merit and that the agency lacks standing to pursue a claim.

The move to dismiss the appeal is the latest salvo in the battle over the size of the 10-level, 3,800-space garage, which Riverlife and other opponents fear has the potential to overwhelm the casino itself and mar views of the skyline from Mount Washington, the South Side and other locations.

Riverlife filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court Feb. 12, challenging the Pittsburgh planning commission's approval of the Majestic Star casino and garage design, listing a host of procedural and design-related issues.

The city and PITG Gaming LLC, Mr. Barden's company, fired back on Friday, arguing that neither Riverlife nor two North Side residents, Randy Zotter and Robert Blackwell, can prove they were harmed in any way by the commission's decision.

"The chief complaint of all petitioners is that the garage portion of the structure is too tall in relation to the casino portion of the structure. However, that alleged harm is remote and speculative. Petitioners simply cannot show that the height of the garage impedes in any fashion on the rights of petitioners," their brief states.

Noting that the casino is a permitted use on the North Shore, the city and PITG Gaming argued that Riverlife should have fought the 2005 amendments that granted that right if it was concerned about the location.

"Interested citizens do not have the right to block property owners from exercising their rights to develop a permitted use," the city and PITG Gaming said.

They added, "It is simply too late for petitioners to protest that casinos are permitted by right on the North Shore."

The two also argued that the project development plan approval before the planning commission relating to the casino and garage design was a matter between the commission and PITG Gaming. The only party able to appeal such a "review" would be the casino itself, they asserted.

But Clifford Levine, Riverlife's attorney, countered that the same 2005 amendments the city and PITG Gaming cited in support of their argument called for a public process in the location and design of the casino. That included notice requirements and public hearings.

"You have all of this public process, a public hearing and a public vote -- it is hard to fathom the intent was that all of this was done for window dressing," said Mr. Levine, a former planning commission member.

The city and PITG Gaming also disputed Riverlife's contention that the garage was an "accessory structure" that would be limited to 20 feet in height under city zoning laws without a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The garage is 119 feet high, nearly twice as high as the casino, which is being built between the Carnegie Science Center and West End Bridge.

In their brief, the city and PITG Gaming argued that the garage was an "accessory use," not an "accessory structure" as Riverlife had characterized it.

"In fact, the casino garage is not a separate structure, but is an accessory use integral to the entire casino building," the brief states.

"What I would say to that is that on their own application they characterize it as an accessory structure," Mr. Levine responded, adding that the planning commission also described it as a "structure."

The city and PITG Gaming also contended that any challenges to the garage height should have been made last August, when the planning commission approved the casino's utility, structural steel and foundation work. They maintained that was when the height was set, a point disputed by Mr. Levine.

In an effort to expedite casino-related appeals, the state Legislature provided for direct review by the state Supreme Court. The legal battle has not stopped work on Mr. Barden's casino, which is set to open on May 1, 2009.