The owner of a high-end beach house at the Isle of Palms appears likely to keep his seawall in place for years, despite state arguments that the protective wall blocks public access and is eroding the beach used by vacationers and residents in Charleston County.

South Carolina Administrative Law Judge Ralph King Anderson III, who has previously said the seawall is accelerating beach erosion, agreed with property owner Rom Reddy’s arguments that removing the wall this year could expose his home to the ocean’s waves.

State regulators had ordered the wall removed and Anderson had previously upheld that, saying removal should be done as early as this summer. Now, the wall will remain in place indefinitely, protecting Reddy’s home from the ocean, while the case continues.