Marlene Gallyot wants to take advantage of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s tourism culture to increase her livelihood by performing weddings on her property — something she was barred from doing earlier this year.
The entrepreneur is a bed and breakfast owner and also serves as a wedding planner and officiant.
“I just want small (events), once in a blue moon,” she said.
“It’s only like the summer months, four months we have. So why can’t I get that opportunity to do my own events in my backyard?”
Gallyot is prevented from hosting commercial weddings and gatherings at her Line 3 Road home for two reasons.
First, zoning bylaws for short-term rental property owners prevent commercial special events on-site.
Second, her property’s zoning status of residential does not allow her to apply for special event permits.
In March this year, it came to the attention of NOTL bylaw officers she was hosting events after photos appeared on her social media platforms.
Bylaw enforcement then revoked her bed and breakfast license for being in contradiction of the short-term rental/special events bylaw.
Gallyot admits during that time she didn’t check to see if events were permitted on her property, adding since no one approached her during the pandemic when she hosted small events, she thought they were allowed.
“In 2020 when COVID was here, we were allowed to do things like that in our backyard spaces, according to the province, and nobody bothered me,” she said.
That is a moot assertion according to Coun. Erwin Wiens.
“That’s not relevant,” he told The Lake Report.
“Small gatherings were meant to be for family or friends, not for commercial.”
In the end, she appealed the revoking of her bed and breakfast license to council in late April and had it reinstated with a promise not to host weddings.
While she is happy to have the license back, the decision still left her dejected and feeling like nothing could be done to restore the other half of her business.
But now the town plans to take a fresh look at its zoning rules.
That examination will deal “specifically with special events and how we need to improve our policy and our regulations with regards to special events,” said Coun. Sandra O’Connor.
This has given Gallyot hope.
“I am very optimistic,” she said, noting that she has been in private conversation with O’Connor and other members of council and has received mixed concerns to her plight.
“The deputy mayor (Wiens) kept saying, ‘I’m going to talk to the council, I will talk to the mayor, I will talk to everybody’ but there’s only so much he could do. He’s trying,” she said.
“Councillor O’Connor,” she added, “is very open-minded, and I’ve reached out to Maria (Mavridis) many times, but she won’t answer me because she said, ‘If we give you permission, then the bulldozers will be going into everybody’s backyard.'”
Mavridis said she has, indeed, spoken with Gallyot and gave no promises.
She believes that when it comes to matters of zoning the process must be tackled with fairness to everyone.
“I did say if we do a one-off for her than we would have to do it for everyone,” said Mavridis.
“My whole thing is it needs to be fair across the board.”
As it stands now, all Gallyot can do is apply for a site-specific bylaw change, which comes at a considerable costs to the applicant.
“It’s not cheap,” Wiens said, noting the applicant would have to pay for expenses such as planning reports and open houses.
Gallyot has been told it will cost in the neighbourhood of $30,000.
However, she is hoping the upcoming review will remove those costs from her own pocket, since it will be a town-led process and not an application on her part.
She is putting her hopes in the hands of her council allies.
“It (the review of zoning bylaws) may or may not help her,” said O’Connor. “It depends upon how council as a majority wishes to go.”
Wiens is also offering hope, but not just for Gallyot.
He is in the corner of the community as a whole, hoping town staff’s review will take into account the larger economic picture.
“Absolutely I have sympathy for anybody who’s got financial hardships,” he said.
“We are going through the process right now to put a level playing field in front of everybody.”
“We have to have a balance between the economy, our zoning bylaws and our residents … and an understanding that the economy is a good thing,” he added.
