Niagara-on-the-Lake council pressed pause Tuesday on Ferox by Fabian Reis’s request to change its zoning from farm winery to estate winery, voting to refer staff’s recommendation to approve the status back to staff and the agricultural committee for further review.
Ferox is 10.55 acres large, while estate wineries are typically required to have 20 acres. Council said it wants a clearer reasoning for allowing estate-winery permissions on a smaller parcel than usual and wants growers to weigh in before any shift.
Meeting chair Coun. Sandra O’Connor told The Lake Report that staff will likely bring the application back soon, as timelines under the Planning Act prevent major delays.
“But, I don’t know the exact date,” she added.
Coun. Erwin Wiens made the motion to refer the recommendation, saying council should hear from the committee and weigh the ongoing official plan review against Ferox’s requested acreage change.
“Some of this might be a little premature,” said Wiens at the meeting. “I just want to make sure we get it right as we move forward.”
O’Connor said council needs more detail.
“I think that it’s good that staff comes up with some more robust justification for why the acreage is almost half of what the generally accepted criteria is for an estate winery,” said O’Connor.
She also flagged risks. “Some of the council’s main concerns is the potential fragmentation of our agricultural land. If we reduce it so that estate wineries can have such smaller acreages, what is that going to do overall to our agricultural land capability?” she said.
Coun. Gary Burroughs, who seconded the motion, said he’s “very pleased” with the referral and respects “whatever it is” the committee has to say. “Because they’re the ones that are growers.”
“If it’s suddenly reduced so the package size only has to be 10 acres instead of 20, there could be estate wineries popping up everywhere,” he said in an interview.
He said growers should be involved in these sorts of decisions. “They know the effect these kinds of changes would have on their properties.”
All but one councillor, Coun. Wendy Cheropita, voted to support the referral.
The next day, Cheropita told The Lake Report she now thinks it’s “probably not a bad idea, now that I’ve given it some thought.”
“I think the council felt there was some work that needed to be done,” she said. “To make sure that the estate application met the standards of the official plan.”
Cheropita noted the owners, Fabian and Stephanie Reis, have more vineyard land overall, but only part is linked to the Ferox site.
She said the committee might argue that more acres could be tied to the property, like the vineyards it owns at the former Harvest Barn property across the street.
“What I don’t understand is why the additional acres have not already been sort of attached to the Ferox property, so this could have gone through,” she said.
Staff’s recommendation report said the winery would use its meeting room for “a maximum total occupancy of 20 patrons” at any one time, 25 persons less than the initial request.
“Hospitality for 20 people only — that’s probably the lowest request we’ve ever had,” said Cheropita.
But O’Connor said that limit may not last.
“If they redo it — which it does need redoing — would that allow for more people?”
“How does that impact everything?” she questioned.
The Lake Report previously investigated Ferox’s bylaw record, confirming earlier this year that in 2022 and 2023, the winery appeared to be operating akin to an estate winery, outside its approved zoning.
When asked whether council is concerned Ferox’s 20-person limit may not last, given the winery’s past complaints regarding abiding by bylaws, O’Connor said that uncertainty is part of council’s concern.
“And why we want to have more justification from staff on this,” she added. “There may be offside discussions, as well, with planning staff.”
Cheropita said council can’t assume anything and “we have to accept every application that comes forward.”
Ferox’s owners “have been actually a good partner through this application process,” she added.
“Maybe both parties have, you know, learned some things along the way.”
Cheropita said the owners have agreed to follow the rules and limit the winery’s hospitality area to 20 people: “I won’t judge them on what happened in the past because we’ve gone beyond that, now we’re looking forward.”
Business in small towns like NOTL once ran on handshakes and trust, she said, but the town has since evolved to follow a process with clearer rules and planning regulations.
“We make sure that our businesses adhere to it,” she said.
The owners did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
