A local seafood market may have to close its doors after two years of business.

Atlanta Highway Seafood Market doesn't have a bathroom available to patrons, so the company was given a citation after a customer complained to city officials.

Owner Phuong Le went before Gainesville Municipal Court on Thursday to plead "not guilty" to the citation, saying state, county and city officials approved his business application before he built the market. He said renting space next door to build the bathrooms could put him out of business.

Judge Hammond Law found him guilty and charged a $700 fine that will be waived if the construction is completed in 60 days.

Le isn't sure yet what to do. The first step is attempting to find a loan, he said Thursday after he left the court.

"The county OK'd it and the city OK'd it when we were moved into city jurisdiction. It said on the application that we were a market and restaurant, and everybody we went to for approval and permission OK'd it," Le said.

"This isn't fair for the small businessman, and it's especially tough in a tough economy."

When Le opened the business two years ago, Department of Agriculture officials inspected it and said the business didn't need bathrooms under its restaurant policy, which requires restrooms in restaurants, because only a small portion of the seafood market provides seating for those who buy a meal and choose to sit there to eat.

However, city and state policies follow the International Plumbing Code for customer facilities, which requires bathrooms for any "structures and tenant spaces intended for public utilization - and the path of travel to such facilities shall not exceed a distance of 500 feet."

The code also states that customers can't walk through storage spaces or a kitchen to reach the bathroom. Le's restroom for employees is located behind the kitchen.

"There was a complaint in the spring that he didn't have public restroom facilities, and we met with him at that time to explain the code," said Rusty Ligon, director of the city's planning department. "We talked with him about options for constructing restroom facilities and gave him 60 days to address the problem. We followed back up recently, and it still was not addressed, so we issued a citation."

Le appeared before Tuesday's Gainesville City Council meeting and asked council members for help. Although all the members expressed their appreciation for Le's business and complimented the food, they pointed to the state and local policies.

"You have a great business, and we're pro-business, yet this is a state law," Mayor Ruth Bruner said. "We'll work something out, and Judge Law will hear your case Thursday, so we'll see what happens after Thursday."

Le is worried, and didn't know Thursday evening what he
would do next, other than apply for loans and "wait and see."

"We just dealt with the (Gulf Coast) oil spill, and prices ran up. We've had zero to negative profit because we had to pay for so much, and this is going on top of that," Le said. "It cost so much money to build, and we have to rent the entire space next door. Banks aren't loaning money right now."

Le, whose parents left Vietnam and came to the United States as political refugees, is worried about the loss of his small business, his American dream. Although Le has received a few offers from property owners to move to a new location with bathrooms - free of rent for a few months - he hasn't moved forward with the idea.

"We put so much money, about $40,000, in here, and it's just not simple to pack up our bags and leave," he said.

"A seafood market is not a small retail business, and you have to redo the entire back of the store and the plumbing. We can't close our doors for three months to move just because someone offers free rent.

"This is the case of a small business trying to survive. What if we can't do it?"