A prominent Edgartown hotel has emerged victorious in a legal skirmish with its neighbors over a poolside bar, though another legal challenge with the state’s highest court is looming. 

A Dukes County Superior Court judge ruled last week in favor of the Harbor View Hotel in the long-running lawsuit over the legality of the poolside area filed by Lynn Allegaert and several other neighbors. 

The case centered on if the pool bar was in an area that was allowed to include food and drink service, if the town had sent proper notices to abutters about the work in 2019 and if the town building inspector appropriately denied the neighbor’s calls to halt the operation of the bar. 

In all three instances, Judge Raffi N. Yessayan affirmed the town took the proper steps, meaning the pool bar can continue to operate in its current location. 

“We’re very relieved and happy the court has ruled in our favor,” said Rod Jane, the vice president of development for Upland Capital, which owns the hotel along the water. “I think the improvements that we have made to the hotel have benefitted the town and the neighborhood.” 

Disputes between the hotel and neighbors have resulted in a litany of lawsuits and appeals going back to 2019, when the Harbor View received a special permit for the pool bar. Neighbors have complained that the new bar carries sound and has a seating area that exceeds previous limits installed by the town. 

But in his 28-page decision, Judge Yessayan wrote that the area where the bar sits is within the pool area where food and drink service has been allowed since 1992.

An attorney for the neighbors did not immediately return a request for comment this week, but neighbors will soon have their say in another case involving the hotel with the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. 

A hearing is scheduled with the state’s high court in December to deal with the highly technical appeal that deals with the dizzying amount of legal challenges between the Harbor View and its neighbors. 

In 2023, Ms. Allegaert appealed the Edgartown zoning board of appeal’s approval of a permit for a hotel renovation. In response, the hotel filed a suit against Ms. Allegaert for abusing the court system, resulting in millions of dollars in delays. 

Ms. Allegaert called the case frivolous and asked the court to dismiss the charge. That request was denied by Dukes County Superior Court Judge Elaine Buckley, who ruled that there was little evidence to back her claims in the zoning board appeal and called it “sham petitioning.”

Ms. Allegaert appealed Judge Buckley’s ruling, which resulted in the Supreme Judicial Court case.

Both the hotel and Ms. Allegaert have filed dozens of pages of briefs and are waiting to present their cases to the court.