Turf and putting greens in Barefoot Lakes.

Section 3.7 of the Residential Improvement Guidelines, as amended and restated August 7, 2026, lets the Architectural Review Committee consider artificial turf in fenced side or rear yards, keeps the right to ask for screening, and holds turf “of any height” to one limit: half of the combined rear and side yard. At least half of that area must be live plants on a permeable surface, so a patio, a path and the turf share whatever is left.

The residents’ landscape guide, revised July 20, 2026, still allows turf on 75% of those yards, while the same bullet asks for live plants on at least 50% of them, so its 75% can never actually be reached. The builders’ guide of December 19, 2024 adds a third figure, less than 70% of the area able to be landscaped. Firestone’s own code also wants half of the combined side and rear yards in live plants, with turf not counted. It depends which document the committee applies to your lot, so ask the ARC for its figure in writing before the plan is drawn.

Neither the Residential Improvement Guidelines nor the district’s three landscape design books use the word putting (searched September 26, 2026). With nothing written for greens, expect a green to be read under Section 3.7 as artificial turf, and that section wants the request to name its intended use, its color and its pile height.

That section was written for a lawn. It asks for a blade of 1.75 to 3 inches, at least 70 ounces of face weight, a color similar to the geographical area, preferably a blended multi-color fiber, and turf that emulates natural grass. A surface cut shorter than 1.75 inches sits outside that rule. The committee’s pre-approved list holds 15 lawn products and no putting surface, so a green arrives with a sample and specifications, and anything outside the written rules is a variance granted at the committee’s sole discretion. Take the sample, the green’s square footage and its share of the half-yard cap to the ARC in one package. Firestone’s own pile rule is on the Firestone putting-green page.

Section 3.7.2 goes past the weed barrier, porous aggregate base and professional installation it requires. Every edge is anchored and hidden behind bender board, concrete curbing or something similar; seams are taped or glued, never sewn; the lot’s established drainage pattern can’t be blocked or changed; and where turf meets a native area, at least 4 inches of hardscape or 12 inches of planting sits between them. Trees, shrubs and perennials stay out of the turf, planted at least half their mature spread back from its edge.

Firestone adds a 3-foot living, permeable buffer between turf and any property line, and the residents’ guide keeps turf a foot off the face of a fence in a mulched planting strip and 5 feet off the foundation. Those guide offsets read as written for the sod lawn; whether the committee holds artificial turf to them is its call, so draw them in and ask. Barefoot Lakes is the part of Barefoot south of Ronald Reagan Boulevard, where homes sit among the lakes, open space and trails along the St. Vrain River. The guide’s drawings mark the existing tract fence as privacy or open-rail, varying by lot, and in its Category 3 fence area Town regulations allow only the short open-rail fence along tracts. Behind an open rail the turf is on view from the tract, and Section 3.7 says screening may be required.

Plan review here asks for a separate sheet of interior and exterior water use, showing the lot stays inside its annual allotment from Little Thompson Water District. The residents’ guide puts most Barefoot Lakes lots at 114,000 gallons a year, indoor and outdoor together, and each owner has to confirm their own figure. A pond or water feature, a pool and a hot tub each bring their own water calculation to the request.

Little Thompson says 77% of Barefoot’s supply is Windy Gap water that includes a planned reuse component, and that without that reuse project the supply would be 83% of what was intended, which could bring more frequent watering restrictions. Turf takes no irrigation water, so its square footage comes off the outdoor side of the sheet. The live-plant half still needs the underground automatic irrigation every lot must have, and where the district maintains a lot’s landscaping or irrigation, the owner can’t alter either.

A built-in fire pit belongs in the rear or side yard: 10 feet from the house, fencing, other structures and flammable materials if it burns gas, 15 feet if it burns wood, and never over an easement or inside an oil and gas well setback. The community’s civil engineers describe the site as carrying existing oil and gas infrastructure, so ask the committee where any well setback falls before siting one. Pergolas and arbors stay in rear or side yards, with an inside height of no more than 8 feet 6 inches.

Front-loaded single-family lots start at 4,500 square feet and often widen to 50 to 60 foot frontages for three-car garages, so a 15-foot clearance around a wood fire takes a real share of the yard. The guidelines don’t say whether artificial turf counts as a flammable material for that setback. It depends on how the ARC reads “flammable materials”, so ask it before turf runs up to a fire-pit pad.

The committee has 60 days from a complete request to rule, and a denial or conditional approval can go to the district board on appeal within 30 days. The request form gives approved work 6 months to start and 12 to finish before the approval lapses. A first owner applies for rear-yard landscaping within 9 months of closing, and the review fee for that first rear-yard plan is collected when the lot is bought from the developer or builder.

Base rock and turf rolls need a way in. Driving across district property, wheelbarrows included, is generally not allowed, and materials may not sit in the public street. Reaching a yard across district land takes a written request with photos, and an approved request puts a $1,200 deposit invoice on the owner’s account. The Design Review page asks for a photo of the fence section to be taken down, while the request form says district fencing can’t come down for access. It depends how the district reads the two for your lot, so ask the committee before a delivery is booked.