Dish out $900 or $1,000 just to park your car for one single night in Detroit?

Sure, it’s a night unlike any other for many Detroit Lions fans and the spot promises to be just a short walk away from Ford Field on what’s expected to be a bitter cold Saturday night for the playoff game against the Washington Commanders.

But pay as much as a monthly mortgage — or even a monthly car payment on some fancy SUVs — for a few hours of parking? Three parking lots in Detroit — a lot with a sign that reads Paradise Valley Parking at 1468 Randolph and two other lots a drive away on 401 Gratiot and 461 Gratiot — ended up seeing bright yellow tape slapped across the entrance early Friday morning, as the city of Detroit shut down the lots in a dispute over whether Detroit’s ordinances were being followed to the letter. A judge later in the morning said the three lots could reopen, with some caveats.

“It’s totally ridiculous,” said David Bell, director of the city of Detroit’s building safety, engineering and environmental department, which oversees compliance and enforcement on parking lots.

“I don’t know of anyone who thinks that paying $900 or $1,000 to park and go see a game is reasonable.”

Bell stood outside of the Paradise Valley lot around 8 a.m. Friday to talk with reporters.

“We’re shutting down three lots,” he said.

Bell said the lots were “illegally charging” drivers such high rates, based on the city’s parking lot ordinances.

The rates being charged online in advance of the game were far above the rate schedule submitted to the city. Park Rite operates the three lots, according to Bell.

But Park Rite noted that not a single person was charged any amount over Park Rite’s published rates, according to a statement provided by Michael Vogt, an attorney at Dickinson Wright who represents Park Rite.

The elevated price advertised on SpotHero was posted inadvertently, and then removed by SpotHero and Park Rite as soon as it was discovered, according to the statement that Vogt provided.

No one paid $1,000 for those spaces.

“Following a brief hearing this morning with Judge David Allen, the court issued a temporary restraining order against the city of Detroit, ordering that the three parking lots be reopened immediately and that the suspension of Park Rite’s business licenses be restored,” according to the statement.

“Park Rite is thankful that the court took immediate action to right this wrong, and undo the city’s unjustified closures which unnecessarily damaged Park Rite’s business and reputation, and inconvenienced numerous city residents just trying to get to work this morning,” according to the statement.

The yellow tape came as a total shock to at least one driver who pulled up to her regular parking lot go to work in the building next door to the closed lot on Randolph.

A woman driving a white car — who would only give her name as DJ — said she parked in that lot every day for her job. She wasn’t sure what she paid to park, as it was staff parking.

“This is a bad inconvenience,” she said, unsure of where she’d park on Friday morning.

She couldn’t understand why she couldn’t park on Friday to go to work because of a high price being promoted for a Lions game on Saturday.

I asked her: Is she a Lions fan?

She shrugged and said she couldn’t say no, given the all the hype in the city.

“This is Detroit, of course, ‘Go Lions.’ “

Bell said workers who are inconvenienced would have to find another place to park as the city sought a temporary restraining order in the Wayne County Circuit Court on Friday morning before Judge David Allen.

The city was seeking to keep the three lots from operating and to determine whether the operators were guilty of illegally overcharging for services, a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine and/or 90 days in jail.

Bell said he did not know whether the lots would open up in time for the Lions game Saturday. “It’s up to the judge,” he said.

The judge did decide that the lots could reopen as soon as later Friday. No fines were issued, but the parking lots did have to pull down the $1,000 rates from the websites. The judge issued a warning not to repeat such actions.

In a statement issued after the judge’s ruling, Bell said the city’s proactive efforts gave parking operators a reminder to follow the rules.

“Today, we accomplished what we set out to do, which is to make sure parking lot owners are charging only the rates they are allowed and not trying to gouge customers,” Bell said.

“While the judge ruled against the closures we had requested, our proactive efforts have let all parking lot owners know that we are watching,” he said.

Bell acknowledged Friday morning that the city cannot tell a private parking lot owner that the price they’re charging is too high or even too low in many cases. But his office later clarified that the city can seek to prevent gouging based on whether a parking lot operator is charging above the market rate.

The city ordinance is specific, he said, on the procedures that must be followed, if someone wants to charge higher fees for parking. Typically, he said, parking lot operators give the city a list of their rates for the season. The city maintains that the parking lot operator must submit their rates; it’s not an option.

“We’ve never seen parking lots submit a rate of $900 or $1,000,” he said.

Parking lots in Detroit have signs posted at the gate that show their lowest to top rates, posted on the signs. In many cases, lots near Ford Field and Comerica Park have rates posted as high as $100 to $150.

Can a parking lot charge higher rates at some point? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

If a parking lot wishes to charge an amount that exceeds the maximum rate it has on file with the city of Detroit, Bell said, the rules say the lot must submit a rate sheet to the city at least 30 days in advance of when they plan to charge that higher rate.

The city says that wasn’t done in these cases.

Detroit’s parking investigation team, Bell said, found prices of $900 to $1,000 being marketed online at a site called SpotHero in advance of the NFC divisional round game that will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday at Ford Field.

Browsing SpotHero on Friday morning, I found parking spots priced as low at $20 for Saturday, while others were in the $60 to $150 range.

Amazingly, one lot shut down by police Friday morning — 401 Gratiot — did have spots listed at $150.15 on Friday morning at around 9 a.m. The sign for that lot listed the Standard Rate at $150 and discounted rates ranged from $10 to $90.

In Detroit, daily and hourly parking rates can vary depending on the day of the week or hours of the day, within a price range currently on file with the city of Detroit.

Parking lots licensed by the city must always visibly display what rate is currently in effect, Bell said. If a rate changes at any point in the day, say at 6 p.m., then each rate and the hours they are in effect must be displayed.

The 401 Gratiot lot claims to be a nine-minute walk to Ford Field, and the price breakdown online at SpotHero was $140, plus a service fee of $10.15 for four spots that were being offered shortly after 9 a.m. Friday.

I did not see any parking being promoted for Saturday when searching for parking for the NFC Divisional Round at Ford Field at $900 or $1,000 after the city shut down the lots.

But city officials say they spotted rates of up to $1,000 for parking at these lots earlier this week. They say their own research found these outlandish prices.

The parking universe, of course, has changed a great deal over the years as now you can reserve spots or buy parking passes online before big events at all sorts of sites — StubHub, Vivid Seats, SpotHero and more.

Do parking prices for reservations sold online need to track the posted rates at a lot? The city is arguing that they do. But some sellers might claim otherwise.

Plenty of online websites were offering parking passes this week at $50 to $80 for the Saturday night game, with parking closer to the event going at much higher rates. One spot offered via StubHub on Thursday was priced as high $583 and listed as a space in “Parking Lot 4 — 49 feet from the venue.”

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Football fans are encouraged to take extra care when parking Saturday in downtown Detroit. Some scammers might be selling parking spaces that that don’t own or control. You want to see ID from a parking attendant.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel issued an alert in January to warn of potential parking scams, which could lead to cars being “ticketed, towed, or even worse, stolen.”

Never hand over your car key, according to Nessel, unless you see valet signs posted, and you’ve confirmed that the valet service is one that’s being offered at the location.

In the past, some scammers offered parking spots on privately owned vacant lots and began charging people to park there. They might even wear an orange vest to play the part and display a professional-looking sign. But they’re making money selling space in a lot they don’t own.

Be on guard for bogus QR codes. Con artists can slap a sticker of their own barcode on top of a legitimate QR code at some parking lots, so you want to look for signs of tampering.

Michigan consumers who ran into some parking issues in the past at sporting events said they were charged a higher price for parking than the posted price or charged more than the price they initially paid to book the parking spot through an app.

Anyone suspecting that a lot may be improperly charging higher rates can call 313-224-3179 or email Detroit’s building safety, engineering and environmental department at [email protected].