Turf and putting greens in Golden Eagle Acres.

The Architectural Control Handbook with Design Guidelines, effective April 16, 2020, wants the committee’s approval before any landscaping begins, on a plan that shows fences, decks, sod, seeded areas, retaining walls, rocks, railroad ties, the sprinkler system and each nursery plant’s size and species, together with a drainage and grading plan that coincides with the builder’s. The recorded declaration adds that a professional landscape designer or contractor draws the plan, and that a review fee and compliance deposit go in with it.

The declaration’s list of improvements that need written approval runs from sod and gravel to patios, sprinkler systems, play structures, retaining walls, exterior light fixtures and any change of grade or drainage pattern. A backyard green usually touches several of those at once: its base reshapes the grade, moving heads changes the sprinkler system, and any light around it is a fixture.

The nearest the handbook comes to turf is its xeriscaping line, permitted case by case in accordance with Colorado law on plans professionally designed with mulch, breeze, river rock, cobble, edging, trees and plants. It depends whether the committee reads a synthetic lawn under that line or under the sod rules, so ask the ARC before the plan is drawn.

The handbook sets every lot out in three zones. Zone 1 wraps the house in trees, shrubs, flower beds and irrigated grass, with irrigated sod held to 10,000 square feet so the lot stays inside its water allotment. Zone 2, at the sides and rear, mixes irrigated native grasses, plants and trees and ties into the neighbors’ lots. Zone 3, at the back, is drought-tolerant fescue or native prairie grass, with room for trees and planting.

Out front the minimum is sod, 3 trees of at least 2-inch caliper, five 5-gallon shrubs and ten 1-gallon perennials, with street trees every forty feet along the curb. The declaration wants everything not under a building, fence or structure landscaped: within 180 days when construction wraps up between April 1 and October 1, and by the next October 1 when it doesn’t.

Read against those zones, a putting green or a turf play lawn belongs in Zone 1 behind the house, in ground the plan would otherwise give to sod. Whether synthetic turf counts toward the 10,000 square feet or sits outside it, the handbook doesn’t say; that is the committee’s call.

The declaration makes the district’s non-potable system the only source for outdoor watering, and Severance’s code says the same of any subdivision that has one: all lot irrigation runs off the non-potable tap. Under the water rules effective March 4, 2021, sprinklers run from 7 pm to 9 am and drip from 6 pm to 11 am, three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at even addresses, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at odd. The Town’s own schedule leaves North Weld subdivisions out and names Golden Eagle Acres among them.

Each lot is allocated 228,000 gallons a year. Water costs $20.00 a month through the irrigation season plus $3.43 per 1,000 gallons, and $9.43 per 1,000 gallons past the allotment. The supply rests on four Larimer and Weld Irrigation Company shares and four Larimer and Weld Reservoir Company shares; in a drought the board cuts watering from 3 days a week to 2, and the native grass on the 2 agricultural lots and 11 outlots, fed only by irrigation-company water that comes mostly in May and June, is cut off first.

Synthetic turf and a putting green take none of those gallons, which leaves the allotment for the trees, beds and native grass the zone plan still calls for.

The district describes 61 interior lots of 1.25 to 2.5 acres, inside a service plan of about 158.173 acres and up to approximately 63 homes. Weld County’s parcel map draws Lots 62 and 63 at about 15.6 and 9.0 acres; the handbook gives those two a livestock plan of their own. Houses sit 50 feet off the back line and 20 feet off each side, and every home needs a back patio or deck of at least 120 square feet, the obvious edge to build a green or turf lawn from.

Gas or wood fire pits are allowed once detailed drawings on the landscape plan are approved, so a fire feature beside the green rides in the same submission. Exterior lighting has to stay subdued, with concealed sources in all white or all pale yellow and no bright continuous yard light, and the committee approves the lighting design.

Fences shape what a green looks out on. Perimeter fencing is 48-inch three-rail cedar, with black metal mesh allowed on the inside, while solid 6-foot cedar screening may stand only on or within the building envelope. A dog run, turf or not, keeps at least 5 feet from every property line and is screened so the dog can’t be seen from neighboring lots.

The Town lists Golden Eagle Acres among the Severance subdivisions on septic systems, with North Weld County Water District supplying drinking water. Weld County’s septic code reaches inside town limits, and it wants at least 10 inches of soil suitable for vegetation over a system’s soil treatment area, graded to turn stormwater away.

The same code restricts activity over any part of a system and keeps the treatment area free of compaction from vehicles, recreation or other site development. Onsite wastewater educator Sara Heger describes a typical turf install as stripping 2 to 4 inches of soil and compacting a base, and says artificial turf should not go over the treatment area. On an acre lot there is room to set a green or a turf dog run beside the field rather than on it. Tank riser lids have to stay at or above the surface, so turf is cut around them, never laid over.

Plans reach the committee through the district’s homeowner portal with a $50 review fee, and the district manager runs the process; each extra submittal costs another $50. The application lists front landscaping and rear landscaping as separate requests, and the owner signs on to pull any building permits, call Colorado 811 before digging, leave established drainage patterns alone without written approval and resubmit any change from what was approved.

The answer’s timing depends on which document you read. The district’s website promises a response within 30 days of a complete submission. The recorded declaration gives the committee 45 calendar days and treats silence past that as a denial, with 10 calendar days to appeal an adverse call to the district board. The handbook’s construction section warns that reviews can run 15 to 45 days. Ask the ARC which clock governs a landscape change, and schedule the install inside the one year from approval that both the website and the declaration allow.