COMPROMISE MAY NOT SAVE MARKET.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

A compromise that lets La Mexicana Market stay open but without an alcohol permit failed Tuesday to assuage the family who owns the long-time fixture on Kalisher Street.

``That vote essentially shut us down,'' said Hector Martinez, the son-in-law of La Mexicana's owner Fernando Garcia and the family spokesman. ``No small market can remain open without its legal right to sell beer and wine.''

The San Fernando City Council at its Monday night meeting formally adopted a resolution to allow the market to operate another five years, but did not approve the store's conditional-use permit to sell alcohol.

The future of La Mexicana became uncertain earlier this year when the city discovered utility records showing it had closed for more than eight months in 1998. That triggered a city ordinance that automatically converted the property from commercial to residential zoning.

Under a 1989 ordinance, all businesses on Kalisher Street will revert to residential zoning in 2009, but the city administration recommended that the store be closed permanently.

The council voted 4-1 in favor of keeping the store open at its April 5 council meeting. The decision reflected an effort to reach the market owner at a halfway point, said Mayor Pro Tem Silverio Robledo.

``I think the council felt very comfortable that we had reached a compromise,'' said Robledo. ``The whole issue is in regards to the amount of time they had been closed and it falls back to what laws we have on the books, and are we going to enforce that?''

The Garcia family has leased the market to a young couple who operates the store, but Garcia, 73, still works there when his health permits. With nearly $30,000 invested in renovations, the store's operators will not be able to recoup their investment, said Martinez.