Turf and putting greens in Falcon Point.

The Design Review Committee adopted Falcon Point at Saddleback’s Design Standards on June 27, 2022. Their one artificial-turf entry says neither turf nor any other floor covering may be used on the front porch, a patio or a balcony, and a separate line says balconies aren’t permitted at all. In practice the rule reaches the porch and the patio slab, not the yard.

The yard falls under Section II.PP: landscaping needs committee approval and has to follow all of the Town of Firestone’s requirements, which brings the Town’s turf rules, its cap on turf in the back and side yards among them, into the HOA’s own review. A putting green has no entry of its own, and Section II.A.3 sends anything unlisted to the committee too.

Committee approval does not stand in for the Town. The standards say Town approvals and permits are still needed where Firestone requires them, and Firestone requires its own permit before artificial turf is installed.

The standards want a signed request form and drawings to scale, preferably from a lot survey, with the lot lines, the house and existing improvements labeled and the new work’s materials and colors described. How polished that drawing must be is where the two documents part. Section 10.13 of the declaration, the clause that has each owner landscape within 180 days of buying, says landscaping plans shall be professionally done. The standards reserve professional plans for major work such as additions and decks and say simple drawings may be enough for other projects. Ask the committee which it expects for turf or a green before paying for a drawing, and either way place the putting surface, fringe, cups, edging and any chipping area where they will actually sit.

Nothing is charged at submission, but the committee’s review costs, reasonable engineering consultant fees included, are billed to the owner and due before final approval. The standards suggest telling the neighbors first, and the committee may ask them for input. Approved work has to be finished within one year.

The timing is the second place the documents disagree. The declaration gives the committee 45 days from a complete submission and treats a request still undecided at that point as denied, not approved. The standards let the committee ask the Board for input on any request, and the association’s FAQ, updated September 17, 2025, says the Board of Directors reviews requests sent through TownSq and may take up to 30 days. It depends which body is reviewing when you apply, so ask Goodwin & Company, the association’s manager, which review and which deadline apply, and keep the answer in writing. The steps of an HOA request are in our HOA approval guide.

The declaration covers 80 lots in three blocks of Saddleback Filing No. 3, a plat recorded in October 2018. In Colorado’s statewide parcel layer, 58 of those 80 measure between 0.14 and 0.17 acre, about 6,100 to 7,400 square feet with the house on it; the smallest is 0.136 acre and the largest 0.269. A backyard green here is drawn into a compact yard, beside the patio and the planting beds, rather than set out on open lawn.

Section 9.5 reserves a drainage easement across the rear 5 feet and the side 5 feet of every lot, narrowed only where the house itself stands inside it, and bars improvements or grading changes there that would redirect, block or slow the water in its swales. Section 8.4 sends any change to a lot’s established drainage to the committee as a plan. Firestone’s own 3-foot turf buffer from property lines is narrower than that easement, so on these lots the easement is the strip that shapes the layout. The safest plan keeps a green’s contours, base and edging out of it and shows the swale on the drawing; if turf has to cross one, ask the committee first.

In the statewide parcel layer, Tracts D and F of Saddleback Filing No. 3 share a boundary with the 253-acre parcel Weld County’s legal description calls Saddleback Golf Course. No Falcon Point house lot touches it; the nearest, Lot 11 of Block 1, sits about 14 meters from its edge.

So the course lies past the filing’s edge rather than behind a back fence, and a green in a Falcon Point yard is judged against the houses around it. The standards ask the committee to see that new work harmonizes with the existing surroundings and landscaping, and to hold its style to the homes and lots in the same part of the community. A plan that shows the green with the plantings, patio and fence line around it gives the committee that picture.

A hot tub needs approval, goes in the rear yard and must be designed as part of the deck or patio and the rear-yard landscaping. Play and sports equipment also needs approval, stays in the rear or side yard, should not exceed 14 feet, and may need written consent from the neighbors beside it. Tennis courts are not permitted.

Exterior lights need no approval if they match the builder’s style, stay small, aim at the house and run at low wattage; spotlights and floodlights go to the committee. Underground irrigation needs no approval but should stay 5 feet off the foundation. A xeriscape must mix rock, mulch, shrubs, trees, grasses and ground covers, with plants covering at least 65% of the area to be landscaped at maturity. The standards don’t say whether turf counts toward that area, so ask the committee before drawing turf into a xeriscape plan.

Section II.DD bars gates or removable sections in Falcon Point’s perimeter fences and allows no rear or side yard access through them. A gate in a lot’s own fence needs committee approval, double gates are not permitted, and no gate may open onto a street or open space unless the builder put it there. Sod coming out and base rock and turf rolls going in all travel through an existing gate, so if the yard needs a new one, draw it into the same request.

Section II.PP gives gravel, rock and soil piles 15 days at most in a front yard, a visible side yard or on the driveway, and none on the street. Delivery trucks may not cross the greenbelt, entry or median areas, and the owner pays to repair common-element damage caused by the owner or the owner’s agent.