ARUORA | Blossoms restaurant is the place to go if you’re looking to dine out in Heather Gardens.
But changes could be coming to the community’s sole restaurant, and those changes aren’t sitting well with many residents of the Aurora retirement community.
The homeowner’s association there voted last week to move ahead with a plan that would see the HOA form a corporation tasked to hire a manager to run the restaurant. That’s a change from the current set-up, which sees the HOA lease the restaurant space to another company.
Calvin Eddy-White, the general manager at Heather Gardens, said that the lease for Blossoms ends around the first of the year and the HOA hopes to have a new restaurant up and running a short time after that, though there could be a few weeks without a restaurant as the new owners prepare to open.
The changes to the restaurant came as part of the community’s construction of a new clubhouse, a project that included gutting and remodeling the restaurant. After the renovation and reopening last summer, the HOA set about looking at ways to make some changes.
Last week, during a meeting of the HOA board in front of an overflow crowd of more than 200 people, the board voted to go ahead with setting up a limited liability corporation tasked with hiring a manager and setting up a new restaurant.
The owners of Blossoms, Carlos and Lisa Chavez, did not return calls seeking comment this week.
While the board voted 5 to 3 in favor of the plan. Several residents have voiced concerns about how much the project could cost, and said they worried that the community could be on the hook for a hefty tab down the road.
Larry Davila, who has lived in Heather Gardens for almost 16 years and spent the past nine on the HOA board, was one of the “no” votes.
Davila said he voted no because he is worried about how expensive the project might be.
“I didn’t feel that we had been given the proper figures on which to base a decision,” he said.
But, Davila said, he respects the board’s decision and is hopeful about the plan.
“I certainly hope it does work,” he said.
The future of the community’s restaurant has generated more interest in the community of 4,600 people than most issues do, said Lynn Donaldson, a longtime resident who publishes the community’s newspaper, Heather ‘n Yon. With more than 200 people, that meeting last week was one of the best attended she has ever seen at Heather Gardens, Donaldson said.
“It’s very unusual to get that many people,” she said. Most issues come and go with little contention in the community.
Eddy-White said that while the issue might be contentious now, he thinks the community will be supportive of the restaurant down the road either way.
When the community voted a few years ago to build a new clubhouse, many of the residents were split over the idea. But when it opened, the community has been very supportive of it, he said.
“And we hope to see that same enthusiasm with the restaurant,” he said.