BATON ROUGE - A business owner is hoping to leave controversy behind and start fresh in East Baton Rouge Parish.

“They shut us down about a year ago, and since then we've just been trying to get back open,” Guerrilla Warfare Paintball owner Justin King said.

Last year, King was told to close his business after a public spat with the Livingston Parish government. In June 2021, King was told to close his business. 

“Some neighbors weren't too happy with the increase of business, the amount of people and traffic. And so we ended up having some issues with the neighbors with parish councilmen... parish president, Livingston Parish... and ultimately we ended up getting shut down,” King explained. 

The proposed location is mainly surrounded by woods, but the placement does have some neighbors. 

“If it's not going to increase the traffic, then I don't think nothing's wrong with it. And it depends on what type of person it brings, because safety is the biggest concern,” one neighbor said. 

King is hoping the move to East Baton Rouge Parish will appease customers as well. 

“A majority of our clientele when we were located in Walker. They actually was from EBR, so it just made more sense to go closer to the clientele," he explained. 

The planning commission will make a decision Monday during their meeting. King says pending approval, he's looking to open early next month.