Nothing is routine for Santa Fe Walmart shoppers.

A state agency Monday overturned a 5-4 decision by the Santa Fe City Council and will allow the new Walmart Supercenter to sell package liquor, despite opposition from the governing board.

Alcohol and Gaming Division Director Gary Tomada on Monday granted the transfer of a liquor license to Wal-Mart Stores, saying there wasn’t substantial evidence to support the decision by the City Council, which disapproved the license at a late-night meeting in March.

The agency said much of the opposition to the liquor license was subjective testimony from people saying it’s too easy for minors to get alcohol in Santa Fe, but no specific evidence was entered into the record.

In fact, Tomada said the state “found no prior violation” of the Liquor Control Act against Wal-Mart, and “there is not substantial evidence to support the city of Santa Fe’s disapproval of the application for the transfer of the liquor license.”

The city can appeal the ruling to District Court.

Mayor David Coss, who cast the deciding vote in denying the license, said he was not too surprised by the state’s decision, and now it will be up to the council whether to appeal to District Court.

He will continue to work with Wal-Mart to make sure it is a good corporate citizen in its liquor sales. “The community is obviously very interested in this,” he said.

The 150,000-square-foot supercenter is now under construction at the end of Cerrillos Road near Interstate 25, a far distance from schools or churches. The City Council approved the project in 2005, but it was stalled for six years in a court battle brought by small-business owners and other opponents.

The store is expected to open in the next nine months.

There also was a brief court battle in 2005 when Sam’s Club, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores, decided to sell gasoline at its members-only outlet on Rodeo Road. That complaint was brought by the owner of other gasoline retail outlets in the city.

In the most recent controversy, dozens of people, including Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez and Shelly Mann-Lev of the Underage Drinking Prevention Alliance, asked councilors to oppose the transfer of the license to Wal-Mart from the downtown Ore House.

Opponents presented a map of all the locations in southwest Santa Fe that sell alcohol and argued it would be too easy for teens going to and from Capital High School to potentially obtain illegal booze.

But the state ruled the map “and the testimony presented do not meet an objective standard supported by authentic facts, such as traffic arrests or accidents that are liquor related in the area in question that in turn create a safety issue.”

“Absent such authentic facts, there is not substantial evidence to support the city of Santa Fe’s disapproval,” Tomada ruled.