Turf and putting greens in Boyd Lake Shores.

Section 4.1 is the rule a turf project meets first. Nothing may be planted, laid or changed until the Architectural Control Committee approves, in writing, a plan showing “the nature, type, height, and location” of the work, and the section names landscaping, screening, trellises and patio covers among the changes that need a yes in advance. The committee’s reach covers materials and workmanship, harmony with the houses around it, and placement against “topography and finished ground elevation,” which is where a regraded green or a raised tee box gets judged. It approves only what it finds in keeping with the surroundings and no maintenance burden on the association, and it can attach conditions.

The document was written with living lawns in mind. Section 3.12 says all landscaping, “including grass, shall be irrigated, trimmed and maintained in good condition at all times,” and no line speaks to a synthetic surface. How the committee weighs that sentence against a turf lawn is its call, so name the product on the application rather than calling it lawn, and attach a sample.

At the 2022 annual meeting the board and committee gave owners a rule of thumb: putting back the same thing needs no application, adding trees does, and when unsure, submit. Replacing bluegrass with turf, or carving a green out of the back lawn, is not putting back the same thing.

The First Filing association is self-managed: its yearly letter to owners lists reviewing committee plans alongside moving the dock and pulling weeds as volunteer work. The committee’s application names landscaping and hardscaping as project types and asks for color and material samples, a manufacturer’s brochure or web link, and full-size drawings of the changes on the lot. For a green, that means the turf’s spec sheet and a swatch, plus a scaled layout marking cups, fringe, edging, any boulders or lights, and where the surface drains. The posted form carries no fee line, though Section 5.6 lets the committee set review fees in its guidelines.

The HOA’s page estimates 2 to 3 weeks and warns of several rounds. Under the covenants the committee may hold a file until it has every drawing, sample or drainage plan it reasonably asks for, then should decide in writing within 30 days, giving reasons if the answer is no. Work may not begin before written approval, and an owner can appeal a decision to the board in writing within 30 days.

The file stays open after the job. The owner sends a written notice of completion; the committee can inspect until 30 days after it arrives, and work that strays from the approved plan, or isn’t done within a year of approval, can draw a noncompliance ruling with 45 days to fix it.

The HOA calls Boyd Lake Shores the first housing development on the east side of Boyd Lake, built out from the late 1960s. It says it bought full-use recreation rights on the lake from the Greeley and Loveland Irrigation Company in 1972, and the covenants give every First Filing owner a private easement across the lake-front park, Lot 10 of Block 2, to reach the water for boating and swimming.

Houses on lots adjacent to the lake must be single story, and any guidelines the committee writes are meant to place structures so they block other owners’ views as little as reasonably possible. Yet in 2019 the board told an owner the covenants make no guarantee of lake views, and it declined to reverse plantings the committee had approved. Anything tall behind a lakeside green, a pergola, a shade sail or a screen of trees, is judged on harmony and placement, so bring it to the committee early.

That same year the committee drafted location rules for structures and some landscaping on lakeside lots. The board ruled they went beyond what a guideline can do and would take a covenant change voted by the members, and none is posted today. Work on the irrigation company’s land at the water’s edge, such as adding rock to the riprap against wave erosion, goes to the board rather than the committee.

One materials rule is written with the lake in mind: the committee says no new landscape in the association should include creosote-treated timbers such as old railroad ties, citing the risk of contaminating the lake. Pick another material for the border around a green or a bed.

The Larimer County Planning Commission approved the Boyd Lake Shores plat in 1963, and the original protective covenants followed in 1971. In the county’s parcel map, 32 residential parcels sit inside the First Filing plat, running about 13,300 to 29,900 square feet with a median near 18,800, or about 0.43 acre.

Section 4.6 holds a house and its accessories 40 feet from the front street, 25 feet from a side street and 10 feet from the neighboring lot, and keeps a detached accessory building 75 feet back from the front and 25 feet from every other line, with the committee free to adjust. On most lots that leaves the open ground behind the house for a green, a turf play lawn or an outdoor room.

Perimeter fences are prohibited outright, and every other fence needs the committee’s approval of where it goes. A dog area on turf here is an enclosure drawn inside the lot on the plan, not a run along the property line. Lighting needs approval too: free-standing yard lights top out at 12 feet, which sets the ceiling for poles lighting an evening putting green.

Larimer County’s subdivision records file Boyd Lake Shores and its second and third filings under the county, not a city, and the First Filing’s parcels carry Loveland 80538 addresses without being incorporated. Loveland’s development code, and its 2026 turf changes, end at the city limit. The committee’s own form reminds owners that association approval is not county approval and that a building permit may be needed.

The county’s Land Use Code, in the version effective December 8, 2025, prohibits nonfunctional artificial turf and allows the functional kind only in recreational and civic spaces. Properties holding only single-unit detached houses are exempt from that landscaping section, apart from its street-landscaping, screening and fence-and-wall standards, so a backyard green on a house lot here isn’t reached by the ban.

The county’s permit guide, updated August 7, 2026, asks for a building permit on fences taller than 7 feet and retaining walls 4 feet or higher, and exempts a shed up to 200 square feet, a pergola at least 67% open and a deck no more than 30 inches above grade. Setback and lot-coverage rules still apply to exempt work, so a terraced green with walls is worth a call to the county’s Building Division first.