ST. PETERSBURG - Fuel Group International has filed suit contesting the city's decision to refuse its plan for a 23-story Westin hotel at Fifth Avenue N and First Street.

Among the precedents Fuel attorney Scot Samis cites is the Citivest project in Tampa's Hyde Park, in which the judge sides with the developer, but quotes Big Yellow Taxi, Joni Mitchell's lament about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot.

Samis suggests the Fuel decision is the same: you may not like paved paradise, but if the law allows it, you cannot stop it. Citivest won in court and Samis expects to do likewise despite neighborhood angst over the proposed 154 rooms and 60 condominiums on the edge of the Old Northeast.

Fuel Group first brought plans for a 32-story building on the property, but the city's Environmental Development Commission shot that down in May, saying it would bring too much traffic, noise and activity.

The developer came back in August with the smaller plan, but neighbors' complaints again convinced the EDC and the City Council that the project did not belong. The city staff approved both versions of the hotel, which also includes a restaurant, cafe and meeting space.

The city is now preparing its response to Samis' suit and must supply that to the court by Jan. 21. Neighbors who fought the development may join the city in defending the city's decision.

Fuel's proposal met all the objective requirements of the city's rules, but neighbors fought it on grounds of incompatibility. The EDC and City Council agreed that it would be too intense, but Samis argues that those sentiments had no legal basis.