Turf and putting greens in Governor's Ranch.

What the papers do cover is broad. Article XI of the 2001 declaration puts the plan for all shrubs, plants, trees, gardens, swimming pools, playground areas, gazebos and the like before the Architectural Control Committee, and the design standards adopted with it bring all landscaping on a lot under those standards, approved in writing before the owner applies to the Town. A synthetic lawn or a green isn’t on either list by name, so it goes in as landscaping, and the committee decides how its standards read on it.

The committee’s yard guidelines add one line a turf edge has to meet: wherever sod isn’t used along a property line, the owner installs square wood timbers, slip-form concrete or 6-inch metal edging, to keep rock and mulch out of the neighbor’s yard and the common areas. All of this dates from 2001 and 2002 and the committee can amend it, so ask for the current set first. Colorado’s business registry lists Governor’s Ranch Community Association in good standing, with 365 REAL Property Management of Greeley as its registered agent. The HOA approval guide covers what a turf submittal usually holds.

The standards lay out a short routine for it: read the standards as they touch the project, fill in the ancillary submittal form, send two sets of plans showing where the work sits and what it’s made of, with cut sheets for any lights or play equipment, and include the fee, $100 when the standards were written and payable to the developer, JRC Land Company. A sketch is acceptable. Before any of that, the committee offers an informal look at sketches or concept drawings with no fee, a cheap way to test a green’s size and spot.

For these ancillary submittals the standards promise a written answer within 14 days but say nothing about silence, while the declaration and the standards’ formal-submittal section count 30 days of silence as approval. Which clock governs a later change isn’t spelled out, so it depends on the committee: ask when you file. Once approved, work has to start within a year and finish within a year of starting, the owner reports completion in writing, and the committee can inspect until 60 days after that notice. Unapproved work can be ordered out, and a contractor who skips the process can be barred from building anything else in Governor’s Ranch until it’s put right.

Turf sits on a compacted rock base, and a green is usually shaped with some contour, so this covenant is the one a Governor’s Ranch design answers to first. Lowering any part of a lot below the plan takes the committee’s approval, and the committee will hand over a lot’s grading plan when the owner or the owner’s agent asks: get it before anyone digs. The design standards also ask for drainage plans with a landscaping submittal. The water has a destination, too: Eaton’s 2024 parks plan counts the 3.9-acre Sage Drive open space among the pieces of the overall drainage system in Governor’s Ranch.

Close to the house, the same article keeps flower beds 3 feet off foundations and slabs, keeps sprinkler piping and heads out of the 5 feet next to walls where possible, and wants gravel beds laid so water can’t pond, over a moisture barrier such as polyethylene. Turf systems are meant to drain down through their base; the Synthetic Turf Council says permeable ones are typically designed for about 25 inches an hour. Whether the committee counts a turf base as a gravel bed that needs plastic under it, the declaration doesn’t say, so settle that in writing before the base goes in. Colorado’s HOA landscaping law also leaves associations free to restrict changes to existing grading and drainage needed to protect people and property. The drainage guide covers how a base sheds water.

The committee’s yard guidelines add a filter to the sprinkler system and set the deadline: by the spring or fall season after move-in, sprinklers, sod and plantings are in. A synthetic lawn or green takes its square footage off that watering, but nothing in the documents says how much of a lot has to stay irrigated. A back yard that’s mostly turf may need the committee’s view on whether the lot still uses the system as the declaration intends; it depends on the committee, so ask before any zones are capped.

The system runs on well pumps. In May 2022 the Town said the Governor’s Ranch and Aspen Meadows system, held up that spring by electrical and parts delays, would be running by May 27, and asked households to keep to their schedules so demand stayed within what the pump could supply. The Town’s non-potable systems run from April 15 to October 15. If an install leaves new sod or plantings around a green, the Town offers a permit to water them every day for 30 days while they take.

The statewide parcel file, read in September 2026, shows 252 house parcels outside the patio-home blocks, with a median near 10,800 square feet and 77% at 10,000 or more; the third filing and its replats run a little larger, at a median near 11,100. The design standards keep every structure 25 feet from the front of a lot, 10 feet from the side lines and 20 feet from the rear line, so the yard behind a house is at least 20 feet deep.

At that size a green, a patio and the remaining sprinkler-fed lawn compete for one back yard, so plan them together on a single scaled drawing. Settlers Cove, the first filing’s patio homes on Blocks 9 and 10, runs smaller: those 33 parcels have a median near 3,900 square feet and design standards of their own.

That leaves a pergola or shade structure beside a green as the committee’s call: whether it reads as a gazebo or as a barred building, the documents don’t say. Lighting works the same way. Special site lighting is on the list of items allowed with approval, the landscape plan is meant to show features and lighting, and a submittal carries cut sheets for any fixtures. The lighting guide covers fixtures for evening putting.

Screening is limited on purpose. The fence standards call for fencing that is open in character, keep it out of front yards, and allow each house one privacy fence of no more than 25 feet, one end against the house, kept at least 15 feet off any property line and no taller than 60 inches. Between neighbors, fences are ivory vinyl at 36 or 48 inches depending on the lot. So a green here sits in view of the houses around it, and the standards approve only work in harmony with the neighborhood and not detrimental to nearby properties, with written reasons for any refusal. Its outline, fringe and lights are part of what gets judged.