KALAMAZOO, MI -- A business owner who told police alcohol is "destroying" Kalamazoo tried to open a topless bar in the city in 1998.

Richard Stewart, shown here addressing the Kalamazoo City Commission on Feb. 16, 2015.

A complaint by Richard Stewart, owner of the Kalamazoo-based real estate business REO Specialists LLC., led to a criminal charge against an Edison Neighborhood Association leader after Stewart asked police to investigate whether the association had a temporary liquor license to serve wine at a neighborhood fundraiser in February.

Edison Neighborhood Association Executive Director Tammy Taylor was arraigned Tuesday in Kalamazoo County District Court on a charge of selling alcohol without a license at a spaghetti dinner fundraiser on Feb. 5.

Police allege attendees were charged a $20 fee for their dinners, which included tickets that could be redeemed for two glasses of wine.

Stewart declined to comment on his role in the investigation when contacted Wednesday by the Kalamazoo Gazette, but pointed to a statement he left in the comments section of an MLive.com story that said there is "much more to this incident that will come out in the trial when witnesses are called to testify."

Stewart has been a fixture at city commission meetings since January, when he began fighting against the southward expansion of downtown building design guidelines into an area that included his business on South Burdick Street.

Commissioners unanimously approved the expansion Feb. 16, but Stewart has continued to voice his displeasure with commissioners at recent meetings, primarily for allowing microbreweries and other alcohol-serving establishments to open within the city.

That anti-alcohol stance seems to be at odds with Stewart's attempt in 1998 to open an "upscale" topless bar/restaurant in a dilapidated building at 616 Portage St., that he said at the time would cater to airport travelers and businessmen, according to a Sept. 5, 1998 story in the Gazette.

"Right now there's nothing in that neighborhood that's upscale," said Stewart, who at that time owned Refinance Centers of America, was quoted in the 1998 story as saying. "What I had hoped to do is create an employment base for the neighborhood."

However, the city commission was so strongly opposed to Stewart's proposal that it established an emergency moratorium on new adult-regulated businesses. That was followed later by a city ordinance that banned adult businesses from downtown and required new proposals to obtain a permit from the planning commission.

Stewart was not pleased with the city commission's decision, prompting him to throw his hat in the ring as a candidate in the 1999 city commission election.

"I continue to see a pattern out there," Stewart said at the time of his decision to run. "The only people heard are those who go to the commission. They go to the microphone, state their name, etc., their opinion and then they have their tires slashed after the meeting."

Stewart finished in last place out of 13 candidates in the 1999 city commission election.

Alex Mitchell is a reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Email him at amitche5@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.