ACADIA PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- Residents of the Mowata and Branch communities are voicing their opinions about a new business called Fantasies LifeStyle Club, making it one of the top issues for the newly sworn-in police jury.

Acadia Parish attorney Luke Dupre said Fantasies is a "sex club."

“It's a swingers club and there's nothing like that around here, you know, at all for miles,” Dupre said.

The business's website indicates that the club is a 21-and-older, "invite only" social club. The website showcases an upside-down pineapple which is commonly known for swingers, which is when a person engages in group sex or the swapping of sexual partners.

Police Juror Pat Daigle, who represents the area, said the police jury has received messages and calls from an “overwhelming number of residents that are worried about all the problems a place like this would cause.” 

Aside from matters relating to roads, the social club has become one of the police jury's most received complaints, Dupre said.

“So the police jury wants to address that. They want to address everyone's concerns. They want to put an ordinance in place that regulates these types of businesses and an ordinance that can be here to protect the public,” he said.

Michael Zaunbrecher, who says he has lived in Mowata his entire life, and his family are not in favor of the new business. He said Mowata has always been a farming and family community.

“It just seems that lately there's been some different issues popping up. We've got solar panels moving into our agricultural land and now we have a sex club popping up in the community and it's just not the direction that I think the community should be headed in and I think around us, there are several communities that probably feel the same way. It's just disheartening to see where things are headed,” he said. 

Micheal Hundley and his wife Katherine also disapprove of the business.

“Our farmers' fathers would turn over in their graves if they knew what was happening here. It's just not good for the community,” Micheal said.

Katherine said she and her husband have lived in the area for decades and that the community is a "very family, faith-filled community."

“We're not in agreement with this type of business in our backyard. We've been here for 30, 40 years, raised eight children and his parents, his grandparents all farmed here and it's a shame that they're taking farmer land from the farmer to build such a business that really profits no one in the area,” Katherine said.

Dupre said the business doesn't yet have a "particular" date set to open because its building has not yet been constructed.

Dupre said studies and many U.S. Supreme Court cases show that those types of social clubs bring crime and that there is a "higher propensity and chance for sexual assault, sexual crimes, drugs [and] drug crimes..."

"There are ancillary effects of what they do. They decrease property values. They make a neighborhood less desirable. They cause a public nuisance. There are state laws on the books about being able to enjoin public nuisances like this but the police jury is trying to be proactive with this..." Dupre continued.

On Monday, Nov. 4, the police jury will have a special meeting to hear public opinions and discuss the matter. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Acadia Parish Courthouse, 500 N Parkerson Ave in Crowley.

Dupre said the police jury is considering an ordinance concerning whether the business can operate in whatever structure they decide to build.

"This ordinance will be quite restrictive and it would be for the public safety of the public and then also the safety of the patrons of the business itself," he said. Dupre noted that the entirety of the police jury is in favor of the ordinance.

Dupre said there are probably plenty of people in the community who identify as swingers.

"We might know about it. We might not know about it. That's fine. That's their constitutional right and that's their right to choose to do that," he said.

“The takeaway is there are probably a lot of, you know, swingers in the community that nobody knows about. That's not what the parish is regulating. The parish police jury does not regulate sex. We regulate businesses, especially businesses that concentrate activities, which lead to more criminal conduct, health problems, public health issues, and other things that studies have shown.” 

News 10 emailed and tried messaging the owners of the social club for comments and are still awaiting a response.

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