Small business owner appeals nuisance finding

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — “Less inventory, less customers, less money,” said Jeff Skaggs, owner of Competition Auto Sales.

Those are the concerns Skaggs has if the city prevails in its public nuisance case against him.

“I feel I’m being singled out,” he said.

The alleged offense of this used car dealer is that he has too many cars on his lot.

“And I didn’t know this but allegedly for the amount of cars you have or the amount of space you have, you’re required to have X number of parking spaces. For a sales lot only it’s three plus a designated spot that would be like a handicapped spot,” he said.

Mind you this is a commercial street, and he is far from the only person who has several cars on his lot. And on top of that, this is how he’s been doing business there for over 30 years.

This is the norm? “Yeah,” For 32 years? “Correct.” And suddenly it’s a problem? “Yes,” he said.

We reached out to the city which told us “Due to an ongoing appeal, we do not have any further comment at this time.”

“If you take a one-mile radius, which I have and you look in this area, you’ll find, based on the alleged violations that I have, you’ll find people that are far more flagrant,” he said.

He says the city also wants him to move out all the cars on a piece of his property since the ground isn’t paved.

“Even though that has been a parking lot since prior to 1970, which is the cut off, they claim that I do not have an approved parking surface,” he said.

A small business owner about to take on city hall. Wednesday night he’ll make his case to the city council.

“I’m 71 years old, I feel like I’m being discriminated against,” he said.