The City Council on Tuesday voted 5-4 for a rezoning that will allow beer sales at a small grocery near the Chambliss Home in Brainerd.
Sean Daniels, operator of the Menlo Park Grocery, said the beer sales would provide much-needed income for the store.
He said it would be housed in "one cooler" and he would be careful not to sell to any youth connected with the Chambliss Home on Gillespie Road.
Former Councilman Duke Franklin spoke in favor of the request. He praised Mr. Daniels for his volunteer service to the community. Mr. Franklin said the store under prior ownership once was able to sell beer and did so without problems.
An official of the Chambliss Home and several neighbors said they feared the beer sales would contribute to additional crime and also lower property values.
Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod spoke in favor, saying the council was involved in zoning and it was the Beer Board that oversees beer sales.
She also said, "We need to be more supportive of our African American business owners."
Councilwoman Coonrod said youth in the neighborhood had access to four "drug houses" where crack cocaine, heroin and marijuana were freely available."
She said one of the speakers who spoke against the rezoning rented out one of the drug houses.
In favor were council members Coonrod, Anthony Byrd, Erskine Oglesby, Jerry Mitchell and Ken Smith.
Opposed were Carol Berz, Russell Gilbert, Chip Henderson and Darrin Ledford.