Edgartown selectmen took no action on changes to the liquor license at the Harbor View Hotel Monday after hearing a litany of complaints from abutters.

At a public hearing, neighbors, their attorney and an attorney for the hotel staked out their positions in what has become a bitter dispute over the relocation and expansion of a bar on the premises last year.

The dispute is also playing out before the town zoning board of appeals and in superior court, with neighbors pitted against the town and the hotel on a variety of issues.

In September the neighbors filed a complaint with the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, which in turn informed the town that an alteration of the liquor license was needed to reflect the new location of the bar. Liquor licenses clearly define the location within an establishment where drinks are served. The new bar is 120 feet away from the old bar.

At the hearing Monday Felicia Ellsworth, an attorney representing the abutters, said the hotel violated the rules when it served alcohol all summer at the new bar.

“They are begging for forgiveness rather than asking for permission,” she said. “The fact that it did [serve alcohol in the new location] for three months over the summer is a violation.”

But Kevin Flaherty, the attorney representing the Harbor View, took another view, claiming there was no violation because the hotel liquor license broadly allows drinks to be served in the “pool area” — where the bar remains, albeit in a different location.

“This is all part and parcel of what the hotel is legally allowed to do,” he said. “As Bill Belichick would say, it is what it is. It was a pool bar and is a pool bar.”

Abutters who spoke described ongoing conflict and tension between the hotel — which came under new ownership two years ago and underwent significant renovations last year — and its neighbors.

“There is a moral obligation to balance the needs of the community with the rapacious moves of aggressive business,” said James Swartz.

“It has caused me to lose sleep and have recurring nightmares that I have lost control of my property,” said Lynn Allegeart. She provided the board with a video of the new pool bar from last summer that shows a late-night scene with what selectmen agreed was a high level of noise and disturbance. “Now is the time to nip in the bud this very damaging problem, before the unique and precious environment of this peaceful part of Edgartown is irreparably destroyed forever,” Ms. Allegeart said.

Selectmen listened and took a neutral stance, acknowledging the difficult nature of the problem.

“This is the kind of decision that is very difficult when friends are coming in front of friends in a small town and the emotions have run this high,” said selectman Arthur Smadbeck. He asked Mr. O’Flaherty if it would be possible to put the pool bar back in its original location.

The attorney replied that the hotel already spent $400,000 on construction, and “is not in the position to just take that money and throw it out the window.”

The public hearing was closed, but no vote was taken.

“It sounds like you [the hotel] have the right to do what you’re doing,” selectman Michael Donaroma concluded. “And it sounds like you [the abutters] have the right to complain about what is happening.”