BRUNSWICK, Maine — A nonprofit group that filed suit against the town of Brunswick after the town council rejected a petition to create a park on waterfront property has asked the town not to sell the property until the suit is resolved.

Marybeth Latti, who along with Robert Baskett and Soxna Dice filed suit against the town as Brunswick Citizens for Collaborative Government, said Monday in a release that the council violated the citizens’ right to petition and is “rushing to sell [the property] before the court” can rule on that claim.

“This is just one more insult to Brunswick voters who merely want to have a voice in our own government,” Latti said.

Brunswick Town Manager John Eldridge said Tuesday that the town has received several offers on the property at 946 Mere Point Road, which the town acquired after the previous owner was delinquent on property taxes. He declined to discuss the offers further except to say the council discussed the property during an executive session on Monday, but took no action.

Brunswick Citizens for Collaborative Government filed suit in February, two weeks after the town council rejected a petition signed by 1,164 Brunswick residents hoping to create a park on the tax-acquired property at 946 Mere Point Road.

The suit argues that councilors relied on incorrect legal opinions from town attorney Stephen Langsdorf when they rejected the petition and chose not to schedule a public hearing and referendum vote.

Brunswick Citizens for Collaborative Government’s petition seeks a townwide vote on whether to turn the land into a public park on Maquoit Bay.

On Sept. 19, 2016, the council heeded Langsdorf’s advice and that of an attorney from the Maine Municipal Association, voting 7-2 to reject the petition. Councilors also declined to set a public hearing on the petition, instead voting to sell the property.

Langsdorf said in February that he informed the petitioners when they took out papers that because the council passed an “order” to sell the land, such a petition would not bind councilors to revisit their decision to sell the property.

“This is basically an attempt to go through the back door … four months later,” Langsdorf said at the time.

After the town acquired the 4-acre waterfront lot, three town committees and some town staff recommended turning the property into a public park with water access, according to documents filed in court.

Nevertheless, after outcry by “residential neighbors” of the property, in September 2016, the council voted 5-4 to sell the property, which would likely generate $10,000 annually in property taxes, officials said.

Cape Elizabeth attorney David Lourie represents the plaintiffs. In the brief filed Monday, he argues that the council had no right to block the petition process and should be ordered by the court to set a public hearing as soon as possible.

“If the town succeeds in selling the property by racing to do so in advance of this case being decided,” Lourie wrote, the petitioners ask the court to issue “clear declaration[s]” about the rights of residents to initiate an ordinance and that “the town council has no power to intervene in the initiative process (by its action or inaction) due to the content of a proposed ordinance.”

The property is listed by Morton Real Estate in Brunswick for $335,000.