Playground turf in Windsor.

Near Windsor, this turf lawn runs up to a wooden play set with a slide, inside a curved concrete border that keeps it apart from the dry field beyond. A sandbox and rock beds sit between the play area and the house, so the kids have a soft green place to run that stays clean.

Windsor’s definition of functional artificial turf lists “a playground, sports field, picnic ground, amphitheater, a portion of a park”. Even so, Section 15-3-20 keeps artificial turf off the landscape plan of any new development needing a building permit or site plan approval, or a redevelopment disturbing more than 50% of existing landscaped area, unless the Director grants an exception because alternatives are not reasonable.

Public parks carry one more duty: each needs its own landscape plan, built around expected amenities, with “playground equipment, picnic tables, game courts, playing fields, and swimming pools” named in the code. Any turf exception has to be noted on that plan, so turf under a new park or HOA playground is settled in writing before anyone orders a pad.

Windsor treats child care in a house as a home occupation, with the number of children held to what the state’s day care home rules allow, and exempts it from the home-occupation square-footage limits. In the SF-1 single-family zone, a child care center is a conditional use that needs a grant under Section 14-2-130.

The play yard follows that split. A home daycare in a detached house keeps a backyard outside the landscape article; a new center’s play yard is drawn on a development landscape plan. It depends on the zone and the site, so ask Windsor Planning before turf goes into a center’s plans.

Ptarmigan West Metro District No. 2 requires its committee’s approval for play and sports equipment and generally allows it only at the rear of a residence, with screening from the street if the committee asks. Playhouses there top out at 6 feet at the peak and 100 square feet inside, and stand in the rear yard.

New Windsor’s guidelines put play equipment on the list of additions its design review committee approves before work starts, and they allow artificial turf in back yards only. Ptarmigan West’s architectural review page asks for committee approval of every exterior alteration, so in either district the swing set and the turf under it both go to the committee.