Winning an 11-year court battle is bittersweet for those involved in a zoning violation case that pitted a small neighborhood in Franklin Park against a business and even the borough, at one point.

"I'm very pleased," said Andrew Hrishenko, a Franklin Park councilman and one of five Carriage Lane residents involved in legal wrangling with Franklin Nursery.

"But it's sad that we had to pay all this money to prove our point that [the nursery] was breaking the law," he added.

Last week, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Joseph James ruled that the owners of the nursery violated three zoning ordinances over the years.

Judge James' Nov. 10 order upholds two borough zoning-hearing board rulings dating to 1998 that state the nursery was wrong to store manure piles and other bulk wholesale landscaping products on land abutting Carriage Lane. The order also upholds a third violation, issued in 2002, stating the owners built a structure on their property without getting a building permit.

The case started in 1998 when the borough cited former Franklin Nursery owners Thomas and Patricia Greaser for running a wholesale business on the Carriage Lane side of their property, which is zoned residential, and for storing materials, vehicles and other items within a required 30-yard buffer zone.

The nursery also fronts Rochester Road. That portion is zoned commercial.

The Greasers appealed the zoning hearing board's decision to the Court of Common Pleas, where the decision was reversed. The borough appealed that decision, and the state's Commonwealth Court upheld the original zoning hearing board ruling.

In 2002, the Greasers asked the state's Supreme Court to hear their case. That request was denied. Around this time, Thomas and Patricia Greaser turned the business over to their son, Patrick, and his wife, Ellie, but Thomas Greaser and his wife retained ownership of the land.

After the refusal, the borough again cited the family, reiterating the first two violations and adding a third, stating the couple built a structure on their property without permission.

The Greasers then appealed the newer citations.

In an attempt to settle case, the borough in 2006 entered into an agreement with the Greasers that allowed the nursery to use the Carriage Lane portion of the property for certain things not allowed by the standing zoning ordinance.

Appeals ensued to Common Pleas Court, which eventually voided that agreement in ruling that Mr. Hrishenko, who was treated by all parties as a participant in the case even though he never filed the proper paperwork with the court, should have been notified of the deal.

So, after 11 years, the case that started out as two land-use violations is pretty much back where it started, Mr. Hrishenko said.

He said the borough alone has spent upwards of $100,000 on the case. Ira Weiss, whose law firm represents the borough, said two years ago, that the number was closer to $30,000.

Ambrose Rocca, the borough's manager, said he didn't have a specific amount spent on this particular litigation available.

Max Junker, the borough's solicitor, said that unless the Greasers file another appeal, the borough's role from now on comes down to enforcement.

If an inspector finds the nursery to be in violation of the zoning rulings, the borough will go through a magistrate to seek a fine of up to $500 a day until any issues are corrected, he added.

Mr. Rocca said the nursery has already stopped using the Carriage Lane property for most of the major problems outlined in the violations.

Richard Sandow, the Greasers' attorney, said his clients were disappointed by Judge James' ruling, but that they would work with the borough and the community, "so it benefits everybody."

Mr. Hrishenko said the next step is obvious.

"[The borough] should begin enforcing the law," he said.

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