Nightstop,
A more generic response.
We know from experience that NOTAMs don't catch everybody. I'm sure there are many reasons, but it's a fact that if something is only promulgated by NOTAM, many flights will arrive, or call for departure, with no knowledge of the issue to which the NOTAM refers.
With this knowledge, when conducting safety analyses for operational changes, we often end up having to use ATIS (though that certainly doesn't catch everybody either, especially as it gets longer), or even both....Or even both in addition to an AIP supplement.
If ATC want to send a NOTAM, it's a simple process, or at least should be. Either in cooperation with the airport operator or acting alone for a purely ATC issue.