When the Rev. Greg Enstrom was named senior minister of First Wayne Street United Methodist Church 12 years ago, downtown was on the brink of a renaissance.

Grand Wayne Center was doubling in size. The Allen County Public Library was being expanded and renovated. And the Harrison Square project was on the brink of bringing a ballpark, hotel and mixed-use building to the city’s core.

Despite the growing excitement, Enstrom met local residents who were more likely to read about the projects in the newspaper than see them in person.

"I can’t tell you how many people said, ‘I don’t go downtown because it’s not safe,’ " he said.

Since then, changes have made Fort Wayne’s downtown more family-friendly, and Enstrom wants to keep it that way. That’s why he opposes local retailer Belmont Beverage’s application for permission to sell liquor at 929 Lafayette St., site of a former Greyhound bus station.

The local Alcoholic Beverage Board meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday in Citizens Square, 200 E. Berry St., Room 025.

Enstrom will be there to make his case. Gary Gardner, operations manager for Belmont Beverage, plans to be there, too.

Like Enstrom, Gardner points to the Harrison Square development as a pivotal turn­ing point for downtown. But he brings a vastly different perspective.

To make way for downtown development, city officials forced Belmont to close its store at West Jefferson Boulevard and Harrison Street several years ago. It’s the second time the city used eminent domain laws to close one of the company’s downtown stores in the past 40 years.

"It’s just unfortunate we have to leave when everything is getting better," Gardner told The Journal Gazette when the store was being demolished in July 2007.

In the eight years since then, the retailer has been actively looking for another downtown site. The search has been hampered because liquor stores are prohibited from opening within 200 feet of a church or school. That’s less than the length of an average city block.

"I understand what the pastor is saying: ‘There are many places, why this one?’ " Gardner said. "In all fairness, it’s hard to find a lot that has everything we need."

Besides dealing with the 200-foot rule, Belmont needs a lot big enough for a 6,000-square-foot building and adequate customer parking. Company officials also want easy access for customers to enter and leave the parking lot. And they want a very visible corner with lots of car traffic.

If there’s a good alternative available downtown, Gardner said, he’d like to know where it is. Belmont, which employs more than 300 people and operates 17 Fort Wayne stores, would consider the location.

In the meantime, the retailer has its eye on the corner of Washington and Lafayette.

The permit request first came before the liquor board at its Sept. 14 meeting, but Enstrom successfully argued that the question shouldn’t even be considered because the sign posted on the site included an incorrect hearing date. The matter was postponed until Monday.

Since then, he’s spent the past few weeks contacting social-service providers located within two blocks of the proposed liquor store. The response, he said, validates his contention that the board hearing wasn’t well-?advertised.

"Everyone I talked to was surprised," Enstrom said. "Some were a little more than surprised; they were upset.

"I think people have a right to be informed," he added.

The Rev. Roger Reece, As­so­ci­at­ed Churches’ executive pastor, was one of the people Enstrom talked to. ­Reece, who plans to attend the hearing, is concerned about the effects a nearby liquor store would have on teens attending a new addiction program that meets downtown.

"For us, it’s just not helpful," he said.

Enstrom is also worried about the welfare of the 200 people who attend any of the five 12-step meetings each week in his church building.

Gardner is sympathetic by not swayed by their concern.

"I understand the problem, but there is temptation everywhere," he said, adding that grocery stores and gas stations also sell alcohol.

Alcoholics live in the real world, he said.

Enstrom said he isn’t advocating a return to Prohibition, when all alcohol sales were illegal. In fact, he recalled recently going into the Belmont location on Dupont Road to buy a bottle of wine.

"This is not anti-?­drinking," he said. "It’s about the appropriateness of that location for a liquor store."

Enstrom realizes that the liquor board might not agree with him about Belmont. He just wants to know that he did all he could to represent his congregation’s concerns.

"If they end up being our neighbors," he said, "we’ll take them some doughnuts and welcome them to the neigh­borhood."

sslater@jg.net