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NEWS
metronews.ca WEEKEND, May 30-June 1, 2014
Group home plans return unchanged Correctional services. Company’s aims accord with city policy Mike Donachie
mike.donachie@metronews.ca
Make it smaller, said council members when faced with an east London plan
to build a group home for women in the correctional system. So, when it was discussed at a city hall committee last month, the request was for staff to work with the applicants to change their proposals for 313 Clarke Rd. Now the application is to return to the planning committee, and it’s not changed a bit. That’s because it doesn’t need to, develop-
ment consultant Ric Knutson said. “The city staff have looked at this again on behalf of the committee, and they’ve come to the same conclusions I have,” he said. St. Leonard’s Community Services runs a group home for people with disabilities at the address. It wants to turn it into a centre that can house eight women on parole or probation.
But, last month, neighbours came to city hall to object. They say the expanded home will be too big and won’t have enough parking. But city planners don’t agree. The application is to return to council’s planning committee Tuesday with the same recommendation as before: that it be allowed because it’s appropriate for the area.
It reflects the objectives in the city’s official plan, a staff report says. City policy encourages development “at appropriate locations, of residential facilities that meet the housing needs of persons requiring specialized care.” Making it smaller won’t work for the applicant, Knutson said, because its contract with government says it needs eight beds.
313 Clarke Rd.
St. Leonard’s Community Services runs a group home for people with disabilities at the address. • It wants to turn it into a centre that can house eight women on parole or probation.
Review. Varekai soars into hearts
Barn blaze causes damages at London Dairy Farm on Old Victoria Road Firefighters were on the scene of a massive fire Thursday at London Dairy Farm. The Old Victoria Road blaze started late Wednesday in a barn, and firefighters were continuing to douse hot spots late Thursday afternoon as hay kept burning. The farm is just south of Highway 401 between Veterans Memorial Parkway and Highbury Avenue. The highway was closed Wednesday night because of heavy smoke. The cause has not been determined. Mike Donachie/Metro
Like most Cirque du Soleil productions, telling someone what Varekai is about is like describing the smell of a baking apple pie or freshly cut grass. It’s good. It’s very good. But what is it? Budweiser Gardens, where the show will be playing until Sunday, has a website that offers up the official story of the show, telling how it’s set “at the summit of a volcano, where there exists an extraordinary world, a world where something else is possible. A world called Varekai.” But if you know anything about Cirque — and by this time, who doesn’t? — you know they could set a show inside a broom closet, and it would be one of the strangest, most imaginative things you’d ever seen. Such is the case with Varekai, which starts, incidentally, before it actually starts with a man and a woman doing some improv with unsuspecting guests as they take their seats. Once it gets going, each scene is in turn breathtaking, sweet, funny and then breathtaking again. It truly is a thing of beauty and beast, depending upon who or what is on stage at that particular moment. The performers are whirling dervishes of colour and exceptional athletic grace and artistry. Some will dance, others will soar and one very amusing and sentimental scene sees a man singing — in French — “don’t give up,” as he chases an elusive spotlight across the stage and up into the seats. My teenage nephew was floored by it all (yep, even a teenager). With a long standing ovation after it was over, it seemed everyone else was, as well. Scott Taylor/Metro