Monday, July 21, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ZONING ISSUE: Sex clubs elude county

Strip mall sites remain open despite ordinance

Joseph Cavaretta, 54, talks about his business, The Green Door, where couples engage in consensual sex. He says the business operates legally in the Commercial Center on Sahara Avenue, but county officials disagree. Photo by K.M. Cannon. A cab arrives at the entrance of The Green Door, a swingers club at Commercial Center. Photo by John Locher/Review-Journal

Inside The Green Door's Sahara Avenue storefront lies the business of free love, an enterprise that county officials have unsuccessfully tried to quash for the past year.

The social club located in the Commercial Center strip mall boasts plush surroundings and beds where couples can get intimate. For varying entrance fees, patrons can wander nude or clothed, engage in sex or just observe others engaging in sex.

The business is one of several so-called swingers clubs in Clark County that county zoning officials say operate illegally.

But the undercover vice officers who routinely visit the club, a year-old county ordinance banning sex clubs, and an ongoing health district investigation don't bother its owner, Joseph Cavaretta.

"I'm very open-minded," he said. "I'm one of the types of businesses that attracts problems, but I have no problems."

Cavaretta, 54, has owned The Green Door, a lucrative business with little competition and a well-known venue for voyeurs and swingers, since 1998.

He said his club is a target for politicians who object to the clubs on moral grounds. He and other club owners argue such businesses provide a clean and safe environment for couples and singles to relax while spicing up their love lives.

"It's not a freak show. There are a lot of people in the lifestyle. We've got politicians that come in here; we've got judges," said Charlie Buford, 48, owner of the Fantasy Social Club. "You can do this as a togetherness thing. It keeps people together."

Last year, county commissioners enacted a zoning ordinance defining and prohibiting the sex clubs. But a year later, The Green Door, along with at least two other swingers clubs -- the Red Rooster Too and Fantasy Social Club -- continue operations. All three have obtained general business licenses to operate in the Commercial Center.

"The (district attorney) could seek an injunction to shut them down," said Deputy District Attorney Steven Sweikert. "The matter has been discussed, but it hasn't been done."

County officials, including Sweikert, have held several meetings over the past year to address the issue. But, they said, prosecuting a zoning violation can be tricky.

"Nothing has been done because of the difficulties in enforcing laws pertaining to sexually oriented businesses and the desire to approach it in a way that we think will be the most effective," said Chuck Pulsipher, a county Planning Department administrator. "Frequently, businesses conducting such business will wrap themselves in the flag of the First Amendment, so I think we're trying to ensure what we do will hold up in court."

Commissioners, district attorneys and business licensing investigators are brainstorming ways to remove the clubs without a contentious court battle over First Amendment rights, he said.

County Commissioner Myrna Williams, whose district includes the Commercial Center, did not return phone calls to her home or business seeking comment. Sweikert and other county officials said she wants the clubs out of her district.

Cavaretta's attorney Allen Lichtenstein described the ordinance as vague and said it does not apply to The Green Door because the establishment existed before the law was adopted.

"Places that already exist are grandfathered in. Also, the way that ordinance is written, it would cover every hotel and motel in existence in the county," Lichtenstein said. "Anyplace where people would go and have sexual relations would be zoned out of existence. That is an ordinance that is unenforceable."

Though The Green Door's Web site describes it as the "premier swingers club," Lichtenstein and Cavaretta refer to it as a health and spa business where customers are allowed to do what they want in an accepting atmosphere.

For that, men pay $60 and couples pay $40 to use the club's facilities, including the spa, workout equipment, pool table, dancing pole and an adjustable leather swing. Alcohol is prohibited.

Buford's Fantasy Social Club, which opened three years ago, has a per night charge of $25 for couples and $40 for men for use of its themed rooms. Women who are unaccompanied are allowed in free.

County code defines sex clubs as public nuisances and "parlor(s) for swingers, adult encounters, adult social sexual encounters, partner-swapping, wife-swapping, or similar alternative lifestyles."

It prohibits any business from charging admission so patrons can voluntarily engage in or view sexual activity.

"This is not a legal business operation," Pulsipher said.

He also argues the clubs are not "grandfathered in" because swinging was never a licensable business.

"The ideal solution would be for the business to shut down and a new business establishment to take its place, one that conforms with our codes and of course with the health district," Pulsipher said.

The city of Las Vegas has similar qualms with swingers clubs and Mark Vincent, director of finance, said they're not authorized to operate anywhere in city limits.

"We would consider a business promoting sexual activity to be illegal," Vincent said.

Under any type of license, adult use or general business, a sex club would be considered illegal, he said.

Buford first started a swingers club at his home, along the lines of the owners of the infamous Red Rooster, a 12,000-square-foot venue located in east Las Vegas. The owners of that club have beat back legal challenges and law enforcement actions by defining their get-togethers as parties, which don't need permits.

"I believe in the lifestyle," said Buford, who eventually moved his venture to the Commercial Center to attract more customers.

Steven Goode, environmental health manager with the Clark County Health District, said there are concerns the clubs could help spread communicable diseases, including hepatitis A and hepatitis B.

"One of the things we're looking into is trying to regulate these types of facilities," Goode said.

The Green Door has an exemplary record with health district inspectors, said Lonnie Empey, the agency's environmental health supervisor.

"(Cavaretta) does whatever he's supposed to do," Empey said. "He's never given us a lot of headaches."

Still, he said, the agency has an open investigation into health issues related to the sexual activities occurring at The Green Door. He declined to describe the scope of the investigation.

At The Green Door, Cavaretta said, condoms are available but not required. At the Fantasy Social Club, people bring their own, Buford said.

Las Vegas police Lt. Terry Davis said the consensual sex occurring within the facility is legal. Undercover vice officers routinely visit the clubs to ensure no prostitution is occurring inside.

Over the past five years, only four prostitution arrests have been made at The Green Door, according to Las Vegas police. Cavaretta said the incidents were related to an escort service, which unbeknownst to him advertised the business as a meeting place.

"They were just using my facility," he said. "Prostitutes we look for, and we throw them out of here."

It's unclear how many swingers clubs exist in the valley, Davis said.

"They're popping up all over the place," Davis said. "They get licensed under such weird parameters. Some might open as a juice shop or an art gallery, when in fact they're operating as swingers clubs or brothels."

Lichtenstein said The Green Door has the appropriate business licenses for everything the establishment provides. The health and fitness center, restaurant, gift and novelty sales, admission fees and amusement machines licenses are legal operations in the commercial district where the club sits.

"The club does not provide sex for anybody," Lichtenstein said. Customers engage in such acts voluntarily, he said.

Buford said he was unaware of the passage of the 2002 ordinance. He maintains zoning officials knowingly approved his swingers club to begin with, and creating a new ordinance after he established a clientele is "ridiculous and unfair."

"They guided me through the process ... and all of the sudden they want to pass an ordinance?" Buford said. "(The club) is legit. I went through the process and I pay taxes and everyone knew exactly what I was doing."