When are boulders, logs and other debris a public nuisance? When they’re in a public right-of-way, according to a new lawsuit the town of Westport Island has filed against Albert Greenleaf Jr. and Barbara Greenleaf.

The suit is the town’s latest crack at a problem with debris it claims the Greenleafs have repeatedly placed to try to expand a 2.5-acre property on Baker Road, a gravel road that runs from Main Road (Route 144) to Greenleaf Cove on the Sheepscot River.

After a fresh warning in a June letter to Albert Greenleaf Jr., the town has taken the years-long dispute to court.

Since 2008, the debris in the town’s right-of-way has included a boat, boulders, logs, brush and fill, according to the suit filed Aug. 14 in Lincoln County Superior Court.

“The result ... among other things, is that the road’s travel way for the general public is impaired for safe passage, and that the parcel of property located across Baker Road from the property has sustained erosion damage from the runoff created by the reshaped roadway,” town attorney William Dale states in the complaint.

The suit claims that, under state law, the obstruction amounts to a public nuisance; it asks the court to declare it one.

A series of letters dating from Sept. 9, 2008, to June 2, 2015, accompany the suit. The town’s letters instruct Albert Greenleaf Jr. not to try to change the road’s location, and warn him that he may be held liable for any damages the debris causes.

The June 2 letter gave Greenleaf until noon on June 15 to remove the debris or face a lawsuit.

Barbara Greenleaf is named as a co-defendant in the suit because she co-owns the property, Dale said in a brief telephone interview Tuesday.

The town’s suit asks the court to confirm the boundaries of the town’s right-of-way; order the Greenleafs to remove the debris at their expense and pay the town’s legal fees; and order them not to put debris there again as, the suit claims, “they have done repeatedly in the past.”

The Wiscasset Newspaper was unable to reach Albert Greenleaf Jr. or Barbara Greenleaf for comment Tuesday.