Not only does Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa yet again trot out his time-worn blame on previous councils for what he says is an outdated official plan but, incredibly, disagrees with Maria Mavridis, Andrew Niven and Erwin Wiens that if a business isn’t operating legally it should pause any illegal operations until it addresses the concerns.

Zalepa doesn’t seem to mind the business continuing with illegal operations while working with the town to come into compliance? (“Wild West of Wine: Ferox winery case tests NOTL’s zoning rules,” March 27).

And if nobody complains to the town, I gather they can operate illegally indefinitely, and our lord mayor is okay with that? How much business tax is the town foregoing due to lax enforcement?

From the owner’s relationship with two major estate winery families, one can certainly surmise they knew and know precisely what the by-laws allow, but rather than complying, they decided to operate illegally, apparently for the past few years, according to the article.

A bylaw system which is ignored and only acted upon by complaint is simply not fair to other compliant wineries, nor the tax-paying residents of NOTL.

And, by the way, the NOTL official plan was updated in 2019 and held up by the region updating its official plan, which was passed in 2022. It is now 2025 and Zalepa is just getting around to finalizing it now?

I wonder if a salmonella outbreak occurred due to the kitchen facilities in an unregulated, uninspected farm winery, could the town be sued for negligence?