Swamp Is In A Bog

The Swamp, the night club in Wainscott, may be in a bog over several structures built onto it and the adjoining Annex restaurant.

The owners of the complex have added a new deck, a dumbwaiter, and a shed roof overhang without approval from the town. The additions could add new parking requirements to the complex's already inadequate parking lot.

A site plan application for the structures was submitted to the East Hampton Town Planning Board in July, but was never followed through. The additions were.

The Planning Board decided to take the matter into its own hands last week and put the application back on the agenda.

"We should really send the applicant a letter saying, 'You haven't done anything yet. Let's get going here and clean up your act,'" said Jim Mangano, the board's Wainscott liaison. Treating the application as if it were for structures not yet built, the Town Planning Department offered its comments on the proposal.

A second-story deck, planners said, depending on the use, could increase the club's seating capacity, and thus require more parking. The dumbwaiter enclosure, meanwhile, juts out into the parking lot, possibly eliminating a space or aisle width.

The lot only contains about 45 to 50 legal parking spaces. When the Annex was approved in 1978, the Planning Board required 72 spaces. Cars regularly spill out along Montauk Highway on summer weekends.

The Planning Board agreed to contact the owners and ask for a revised application.