The Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal issued a decision Wednesday in favor of a commercial tour boat and convenience store operator on the shores of Lake Martin, affirming a trial court decision allowing the merchant to continue operating.

In a 3-2 vote, the court said that Bryan Champagne could continue doing business at his location on Rookery Road despite numerous errors noted in the permitting process that allowed him to build a wharf, a bait shop, a deck and a small wood-frame building for other commercial ventures on the site. In a dissenting opinion, however, two judges cited arguments the St. Martin Parish Government had made in the case, laying out the groundwork for any subsequent legal action on the issue.

Champagne was not available for comment Thursday afternoon.

The decision is only the latest stage of the legal battle between Champagne, who operates Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tours and The Wharf on Lake Martin, and the St. Martin Parish Government. Although Champagne has operated his business on Rookery Road since 2011, the parish government has been fighting over the applicability of its zoning ordinances and the commercial nature of Champagne’s operation since 2015, filing its lawsuit in 2016.

Judge Candyce J. Perret, writing for the majority, contended that the permits issued to Champagne for his business and construction on the site were valid and, therefore, he should be allowed to continue operating. This aligned with the trial court decision that the permits and licences, along with almost a decade of time in business, gave Champagne a “vested right” to continue.

Last year, 16th Judicial District Court Judge Keith Comeaux said that Champagne’s rights would be violated if his business were shuttered. He also cited vague and unclear language in the parish’s zoning ordinance in making his decision.

In the dissent, Judge John E. Conery said that the permits were not valid, going as far as to say the parish did not have a right to grant the permits. In addition to having the wrong address, for a location on the other side of Rookery Road from Lake Martin, the area in which Champagne located his business falls under the purview of the state’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries as part of a reserve, which would require that agency to sign off on any activity.

“Mr. Champagne gave the parish permit department the wrong address for his initial building permit, ‘1076 Rookery Road,’” Conery wrote. “The addresses on Rookery Road are on the land side of the levee. Anything on the lake side of the levee is Lake Martin and part of the state preserve.”

Conery also cited the Army Corps of Engineers’ responsibility for navigable waterways in the dissent.

“Mr. Champagne should have been required to obtain a Corps permit or permits before building any structure on the lake and before building wharfs, docks, decks, and piers from which he now operates his motorized boat tour business and other commercial business on the lake, assuming he could do so with LDWF approval,” Conery wrote.

The decision also notes that the parish government stipulated that the permits were issued as the result of an “administrative error.”

“The dissent quotes my testimony quite heavily,” Parish President Chester Cedars said Thursday afternoon. “It is what I have said since the beginning, that administrative errors do not overrule a legislative ordinance.”

Although the decision favors Champagne, the parish still has the option of submitting the case to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

“The next step is to meet with the parish council and give them my recommendation,” Cedars said. “I will read the decision very closely and meet with the parish attorney to develop a plan and base our recommendation going forward on that.”

Mary Lynn Chauffe, a Lake Martin landowner with property near Champagne’s business, said that she was disappointed with the decision, but sees some positive points in the dissenting opinion.

“This is both bad for the parish and good for the parish,” Mary Lynn Chauffe, a Lake Martin property owner said. “The dissent lays out the road map for the parish going forward.”