It took going to Grafton County Superior Court this week, but Jed Smith can keep his 1952 International Harvester farm tractor in front of his vacant home, where it’s mostly sat for the last few years.

Smith and his mother, Martha, have been in a decade-long standoff with the town of Lyme over two properties they own on Dorchester Road and Goose Pond Road (home of the tractor).

In August, I wrote about the town enforcing a 2015 court order that requires the Smiths to clean up the properties, which have been in disarray for years.

The homes on each property are in such disrepair that they’re currently uninhabitable. That aside, the Lyme Selectboard’s focus — you might call it a mission — is getting the grounds around the homes spruced up.

On the 17-acre Dorchester Road property alone, the Smiths have about 20 unregistered vehicles, many of which Jed considers collectors’ items.

The push to spiff up the Smiths’ properties in one of the state’s wealthiest communities isn’t solely the Selectboard’s doing. By a vote of 80-51 at Town Meeting in March, residents approved spending up to $150,000 in taxpayers’ money on the cleanup.

After hearing the wishes of voters, the Selectboard gave the Smiths until Aug. 31 to remove any items they wanted to save before the town brought in a private contractor to haul away whatever remained.

With help from family and volunteers, the Smiths made progress over the summer, but still had a long way to go when the deadline passed without the board taking immediate action. In an Oct. 10 letter, following visits to the two properties, the board informed the Smiths that Phase I of the cleanup would commence this week at the Goose Pond Road property. All items that “contribute to the junkyard condition of the property,” would be removed, the board stated. Benny’s Auto & Hauling, of Warner, N.H., was hired to perform the work.

The board also gave the Smiths a three-page list of items that it had designated for removal.

Which brings me back to the farm tractor.

The town’s everything-must-go edict didn’t go over well with the Smiths or Lebanon attorney Barry Schuster, who is representing them pro bono.

After meeting with the Smiths last Friday, Schuster, who specializes in land use law, had to work quickly. State courts were closed Monday for a holiday and the cleanup crew was scheduled to arrive Tuesday.

Filing electronically on Monday, Schuster asked Superior Court Judge Jonathan Frizzell to grant a temporary restraining to block the start of the cleanup.

“The action by the town is unwarranted and excessive and would result in the loss of personal property used by the Smiths in their business and for their personal use,” Schuster argued in his complaint.

Many of the items on the town’s list are not “junk,” Schuster added, noting that Jed Smith uses the tractor for brush hogging in his property maintenance work.

He paid $1,000 for the tractor and considers it a prized possession. “It runs beautifully,” he told me.

I see why the town wants worn tires and broken vehicle parts removed. But an old “Farmall” tractor that’s in working order? That’s taking gentrification too far.

Along with the tractor and a snowplow blade, the Smith’s also stood to lose a metal swing set and children’s outdoor toys — items that “other families in town” have in their yards, Schuster told the court.

Early Tuesday morning, Schuster drove to the courthouse in North Haverhill, where he met with Judith Brotman, who chairs the Lyme Selectboard, and Laura Spector-Morgan, a Laconia, N.H., attorney who represents the town. Before the judge had time in his schedule to hear Schuster’s complaint, the two sides ironed out an agreement. The Selectboard signed off at its meeting on Thursday and the Smiths have done so as well, Brotman told me via an email.

Under the deal, the cleanup at 172 Goose Pond Road can’t start before Monday, giving the Smiths an additional six days to salvage what they can.

On Wednesday, I stopped by the property, which includes a mobile home and small barn on a half-acre lot. I counted 10 lawn mowers, a half dozen rusting kids’ bikes and three gas barbecue grills in the front yard. A discarded washing machine was around the corner.

In early September, longtime Lyme resident Ray Clark, who recruited volunteers to help the Smiths, wrote a letter to the Selectboard. “Jed has had many challenges and hardships in his life,” Clark wrote. “He is a hard worker and struggles to support his family. He also has psychological barriers to overcome.”

The volunteers include health care professionals who have tried unsuccessfully to get Smith to seek treatment for his hoarding tendencies, Clark added.

Smith, 45, is a talented jack-of-all trades who works multiple jobs, including Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Norwich transfer and recycling center.

The Smiths acknowledge that many people would describe their properties as eyesores.

Martha Smith grew up on what was once her family’s small farm on Dorchester Road, which leads to the Dartmouth Skiway. The Goose Pond Road property is where Jed Smith and his late wife, Catherine, raised their two children, who were in elementary school when their mother died of heart failure in 2014.

“We know the places need to be cleaned up,” Martha Smith told me this week, reiterating what she and her son have said in Selectboard meetings that I’ve attended. “We’re doing it as fast we can. Sometimes, life just gets in the way.”

This summer, Jed and and his partner, Taylor Gray, found themselves without a roof over their heads. They moved into a camper with their infant son, Colton, and Gray’s 8-year-old son, Keegan.

This week, the campground in Bath, N.H., they were staying at closed for the season. They’re trying to find an affordable place to live before winter arrives. In the meantime, they’re renting a room at a White River Junction motel .

“We’ve got two beds, a fridge and a microwave,” Smith told me. “There’s also a free breakfast. It’s nothing fancy.”

Jim Kenyon can be reached at jkenyon@vnews.com