The owner of a waterfront home next door to the historic Vose boathouse in Edgartown’s Tower Hill section filed a lawsuit last week in an effort to prevent its neighbors from renting the property for weddings in the shoulder season.

A complaint was filed Feb. 22 in Massachusetts Land Court by Edgartown Harbor LLC, a limited liability company, against the Edgartown planning board, its individual members and the Vose family trust, which owns the boathouse and adjacent property. Edgartown Harbor is linked in town assessment records to Mark McGoldrick, although his name does not appear in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit seeks to invalidate a special permit granted unanimously by the planning board on Jan. 18 that allows the Julien W. Vose Family LLC to hold up to four for-profit events per year on their property, which includes the boathouse, a barn, a garage and a bowling alley dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The property has been in the Vose family since 1904, when it was purchased by piano manufacturer Julian W. Vose. He founded the trust in 1935 for the benefit of his descendants. Edgartown Harbor LLC purchased the abutting property in 2006.

In its decision to grant the special permit, the planning board found that the family’s history of hosting nonprofit events at the site was “hugely beneficial to Edgartown and the Island as a whole,” and noted that holding events for profit was an effort by the family to keep and maintain the property.

But in its complaint, Edgartown Harbor LLC contends the permit violates both the express terms and the spirit of town bylaws.

“Vose’s application should not even have reached a vote,” the complaint states in part. “The described use is in direct violation of multiple provisions for the Edgartown zoning bylaws, and Vose’s proposed uses were not even theoretically eligible to receive special permit approval.”

The Vose family filed an application for a special permit last October to hold not more than two weddings in May or June and two in September or October with up to 300 guests, not including staff. Use of the boathouse would be limited to receiving the wedding couple by boat and for photos of the immediate family. Parking would be available for up to 35 vehicles; other guests would be shuttled in, the application says.

“These events will have the tents and the accompanying supports normally provided for weddings and will take place after the majority of close neighbors have left the Island,” the application reads in part.

In a separate communication to abutters, the family noted that the family has used the property for years to host family events, allowed nonprofit organization to hold fundraising benefits there and recently began renting it to non-family members for weddings to defray the costs of maintaining the property.

“With housing changing owners, a growing summer population and updated town regulations requiring permits for tents, the trustees of the VFT began a review of our practices and concluded we need to offer the town and neighbors relevant information about the property usage and ensure we comply with the bylaws of the town to maintain communal harmony,” the statement reads.

Edgartown Harbor contends, among other things, that the proposed use of the property is not a conditionally permitted use as outlined in the town zoning bylaws and that the planning board’s decision’s lacked proper findings.

Edgartown Harbor is represented by Vineyard Haven attorneys Erik Hammarlund and Casey J. Dobel.

The case has been assigned to the Hon. Robert B. Foster. No hearing date has been set.