Turf and putting greens in Highland Meadows.

That line sets no size cap, no minimum weight and no front-yard ban, and putting greens appear nowhere in the book, so the Architectural Control Committee decides turf one plan at a time. The design application asks for one set of plans placing the work against the lot lines and the house, plus the maker’s brochure or cut sheets. A turf request here is a request to approve a named product in a drawn spot, so choose the turf before the paperwork goes in.

The book covers single-family homes in Districts No. 1 through No. 10, not townhomes, condos, apartments or cottages, and a home inside a sub-HOA, such as the patio homes or the homes on Murano, follows that association’s rules as well. Country Farms Villages, District No. 7, has a separate book whose turf line reads “Back yards; ACC approval is required.” Each book claims to prevail where the two disagree, so on a Country Farms lot it depends on which one the district applies: ask it before drawing turf out front.

Everywhere else in the guidelines, turf means watered grass. Section 2.48 has turf areas irrigated by pop-up spray or rotary heads and planting beds by low-volume drip, and it puts sprinkler changes in front of the committee too. Whether an artificial lawn counts toward the 40% is unwritten, so it depends on how the committee reads it: ask for that reading in writing before a front-yard design rests on synthetic turf.

The planting rules shape the rest of the plan. Each front yard and each back yard gets two trees and three shrubs, one front tree a pine or other evergreen; new trees go in at 2-inch caliper or more and evergreens at 6 feet or taller, trees stay 5 feet and shrubs 3 feet off property lines, and large stretches of bare mulch are out. Windsor’s own front-yard minimum for detached homes applies on top, as the Windsor page explains.

Owners along the course can’t cut a gate in the district fence, mow the course’s native grass or spray broadleaf herbicide on course property; weeds get handled on your side of the line. Nobody may take district fencing down or drive over district landscaping to reach a back yard either, so on a course lot the base rock, turf rolls and equipment come in across your own lot.

Two more rules shape a course-side design. Drainage has to keep flowing under the district fence, with no landscape material piled against it, which calls for a clean, low edge where turf or rock meets that fence. And views aren’t protected: the course can change or add landscaping as it needs, so frame a green or a patio around what sits inside your own lines.

Beyond the fence is Art Schaupeter’s par-71 links layout, built in 2004 and 7,128 yards from the longest tees, with a practice putting green and a chipping area by its range, a fair place to judge green speed before a backyard surface is chosen.

The recorded Declaration adds two limits that matter under turf. Owners may not install landscaping or anything else that changes the lot’s grading from the plans the Town approved, and they should minimize or leave out sprinkler piping and heads within 5 feet of foundation walls and slabs. It also warns that Colorado ground includes expansive and low-density soils. A base that fills or cuts a swale is a grading change, and turf laid along the house is a chance to pull the heads out of that 5-foot band.

Keep the side-lot drainage easement clear, normally at least 3 feet in from the property line, and don’t run drains onto district property. The design application states it plainly: drainage stays the same, or a qualified person signs off on a new plan. The guide does artificial turf drain covers how water moves through the base.

Larimer County’s platted-lot map draws 856 numbered lots across the Highland Meadows Golf Course filings: 168 under 5,000 square feet, a median near 8,760 and 275 at 10,000 or more. The recorded Declaration, which allows up to 1,000 lots, defines landscaping as every material covering the ground, so turf, rock and edging all wait on the committee’s approval.

Around a lawn or green, the guidelines place the other pieces. A gas or wood fire pit needs approval and sits at least 15 feet from the property line; play sets go in the rear or side yard, about 5 feet off lot lines and no taller than 10 feet; water features need approval; retaining walls are brick, treated wood, natural stone or similar, never exposed concrete. On a lot near the median, those distances decide where the turf ends and the patio begins.

The guidelines set the outer limit: the committee approves or disapproves within 45 days of a complete submission, and silence past that counts as disapproval, not approval. A committee member’s stamped or printed note on the plans counts as the written answer. Review fees may apply, with another fee for each round after the second, and an adverse decision can be appealed to the board within 10 days.

After approval, the documents disagree. The guidelines give a year to finish and let the committee extend it; the application form revised in September 2025 says approved work must be done within 9 months or resubmitted, with fees where required. Plan on the shorter window, and if a project will run long, ask the district in writing for more time before the 9 months are up. The HOA approval guide walks through the paperwork.