At the Lightkeepers Inn on Simpson’s Lane in Edgartown, it was a long summer for light-sleeping inn-seekers.

Construction across the lane at the site of the former Shiretown Inn has provided its share of metaphorical and actual headaches to Heidi Raihofer and her guests at the Lightkeepers Inn over the past several months, and the time has come, she says, for a rational noise ordinance in Edgartown to address the matter.

Once the heart of what was a unified bloc of hospitality on Simpson and North Water streets, the stately Shiretown Inn fit comfortably between the Colonial, Edgartown and Lightkeepers Inns (achieving a brief moment of national notoriety as the hotel the late Ted Kennedy checked into in the early morning hours of July 19, 1969). For many years, however, the site has seemed all but abandoned, after being sold off to several private owners and largely torn down. What remains after years of stop-and-go remodeling is a gaping lot of barren soil, facades, scrap heaps and assorted heavy construction equipment. But more troubling to Ms. Raihofer than the aesthetic degradation of the site, which is visible from her inn, has been the relentless noise of construction work during hours that patrons would otherwise expect peace and quiet.

“It was like a war zone this summer,” she said. “It was unbearable. My guests were routinely woken up as early as 6:30 in the morning by cement mixers and excavators. It’s loud, heavy equipment, not just shingling.”

The inn has been pilloried for the noise on online hotel ratings services such as tripadvisor.com. Reviewers who once uniformly celebrated the inn’s quiet charms (“Let me just say that the Lightkeepers Inn was a delight, plain and simple. Everything was perfect”) now lament the noisy state of affairs (“We did not enjoy our stay because of building works being carried out on the opposite side of the narrow street. Builders worked nonstop — all weekend in fact. The noise of banging, clattering, drilling, sawing was nonstop.”) Others are more succinct: “Nice Place TOO NOISY,” one online reviewer wrote.

“It has affected business,” said Ms. Raihofer, “and in an economy like this that’s the last thing you need.”

Other inns nearby, such as the Colonial, noted a similar uptick in noise complaints by patrons this past summer but none as pronounced as at the Lightkeepers which directly faces the work site.

The events of the summer have spurred Ms. Raihofer and the inn’s owner, John Chirgwin, to action. Neither seek a moratorium on the construction. Instead they have written to and spoken with town selectmen, who have in turn asked the Edgartown planning board to come up with some recommendations for noise regulation.

In a letter sent to the planning board on Oct. 13, Ms. Raihofer offered suggestions for noise bylaws.

“During the summer months, when people have their windows open, June through September, workers arriving at the work site [should] perform quiet tasks (noise under 50 decibels) until 9 a.m. and finish with the noise by 5 p.m.” she wrote.

The Edgartown planning board has responded to the inquiry. Planning board assistant Georgiana Greenough said the board is currently in the process of drafting a bylaw that will be the subject of a public hearing at some point in the near future. She said the board hopes to have the bylaw ready for the April annual town meeting.

“I think the town understands the issue and we’re moving in the right direction,” said Mr. Chirgwin this week. “I’d love to see something on the ballot in April. I’m optimistic.”

Ms. Raihofer agreed: “It’s not like we don’t want to be able to do something down the road. We want to be able to make repairs in the future, we would just like to see some very mild guidelines so that people aren’t woken up extremely early in the morning and they can enjoy their dinner at seven o’clock on a Saturday evening.”

Both Ms. Raihofer and Mr. Chirgwin stressed that their interactions with the various subcontractors and property owners have been for the most part productive, and that the problem has not been with the individuals working across the street but rather with the lack of adequate regulations.

“They’ve been very cooperative in trying to keep it down,” said Ms. Raihofer, “but I just feel like we shouldn’t have to negotiate every issue. There should be some rules.”

As Edgartown tries to balance its postcard-friendly quiet seaside charm with the demands of ongoing development, Mr. Chirgwin hopes that this summer can be seen as a learning experience as well as an opportunity to preempt future disputes elsewhere, as work opposite the Lightkeepers Inn will hopefully be finished by next summer and the neighborhood will return to its characteristic tranquility.

“Construction is going to go on here, we can’t stop that, nor would we want to,” he said, “but our major source of income on the Island is tourism. People come here because they expect a certain type of atmosphere and we don’t want that to be marred.”

He concluded:

“It’s the idea of construction and tourism not being at each others throats.”