JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A sewer line squabble has a Northwest Jacksonville business owner upset with JEA. Hosea Small said he's not happy about a new pipe that the utility recently put on his property.

"They came in and cut up all the concrete out of here and dug it all up," Small said.

He said JEA has spent the last month putting a sewer line in the middle of his restaurant's parking lot.

"It basically is sitting right in my parking spaces. So, if they had to come here and do work, it actually affects my business because they would have to pull this up and go in to do their work," Small explained.

He said JEA crews were not invited onto his property, and he believes the sewer line should have been placed in the street.

"I did mention that they were on my property, but the way they were acting that didn't seem to affect them," said Small.

He also said when the construction was taking place no one could park in his parking lot and he lost a lot of business.

JEA admitted the placement of the sewer line was a mistake.

"We met with the contractor, who admitted that they put that there erroneously, and we spoke to the owner of the business," said JEA spokeswoman Gerri Boyce.

JEA said it told Small it would fix the problem, but the business owner is not letting the utility back on his property.

"He is demanding a certain amount of money so that we can remove it. He's asking for $15,000," Boyce said.

Small confirmed that he wants compensation, but said he has not told JEA how much. He said he thinks he deserves the money because of all the problems for his business.

"As a taxpayer I think they've infringed on my personal rights by coming on my property," Small said.

Small said he has hired an attorney to handle the situation for him. JEA said the reason it doesn't want to pay is because it believes it would be just as easy to move the line and it wants to be responsible with taxpayers' money.