--- title: "Metro District or HOA: Who Reviews Turf | TIMELESS Grass & Greens" description: "In a Denver-metro district community, the metro district can hold design review power under state law. Here's how to find out which body reviews your plan." url: https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/metro-district-or-hoa-design-review-colorado/ updated: 2026-09-14 --- Local rules # Metro District or HOA: Who Reviews Your Turf or Putting Green Plan in a Denver-Metro Master-Planned Community * * * Updated 2026-09-14 The short answer ## In a Denver-metro master-planned community, does the metro district or the HOA approve a turf or putting-green plan? It depends on the paperwork, not on what's normal elsewhere. A metropolitan district can hold covenant enforcement and design review power under C.R.S. 32-1-1004(8)(a), but only if a contract with the master association grants it, or the declaration itself names the district. Ask your association or district manager which document applies to your address before you submit a plan. Planning a turf installation? Get a layout, turf options and a written quote for your space. [Request a free estimate](https://www.timelessgrass.com/estimate/?use=Lawn) [Call 303-349-2368](tel:3033492368) We’ll call to arrange a free site visit. On this page On this page 1. [The decision: find the document before you draw the layout](https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/metro-district-or-hoa-design-review-colorado/#the-decision-find-the-document-before-you-draw-the-layout) 2. [What Colorado law requires before a district can review your plan](https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/metro-district-or-hoa-design-review-colorado/#what-colorado-law-requires-before-a-district-can-review-your-plan) 3. [What a public design review office actually looks like](https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/metro-district-or-hoa-design-review-colorado/#what-a-public-design-review-office-actually-looks-like) 4. [The backyard protection travels with the declaration, not the reviewer](https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/metro-district-or-hoa-design-review-colorado/#the-backyard-protection-travels-with-the-declaration-not-the-reviewer) 5. [What a professional install plans around](https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/metro-district-or-hoa-design-review-colorado/#what-a-professional-install-plans-around) 6. [Questions to settle before your plan is final](https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/metro-district-or-hoa-design-review-colorado/#questions-to-settle-before-your-plan-is-final) ## The decision: find the document before you draw the layout In a Denver-metro master-planned community built by a metropolitan district, it’s easy to assume the district reviews everything — it built the roads, it runs the parks, it sends the assessment on your tax bill. Turf and putting-green plans don’t automatically follow that pattern. Whether the district or your homeowners’ association signs off on your lot depends on a specific piece of paperwork, and that paperwork is different in every community. Our [guide to Colorado’s HOA turf rules](https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-hoa-turf-rules/) covers what an association’s design guidelines can and can’t restrict. This article covers the layer above that: when a metropolitan district, rather than the association, is the one holding that review power in the first place. A related question inside single-owner communities — [who approves turf when a district and an HOA both exist](https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/cdd-or-hoa-who-approves-turf/) — comes up under Florida’s community development district law; Colorado’s metropolitan district statute sets its own two-part test, and that’s what this article walks through. ## What Colorado law requires before a district can review your plan A metropolitan district is a type of special district, and by default its job is infrastructure — roads, water, parks, recreation — not what goes on an individual lot. [C.R.S. 32-1-1004(8)(a)](https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_32-1-1004) gives a district the additional power to provide covenant enforcement and design review services, but only when one of two conditions is met: - **A contract exists.** The governing body of the master association (or a similar body) and the metropolitan district have entered into a contract that defines each party’s duties and responsibilities, and the district’s covenant enforcement doesn’t exceed what the association’s own governing documents allow it to grant. - **The declaration names the district.** The declaration, rules and regulations, or a similar document containing the covenants to be enforced for the area names the metropolitan district itself as the enforcement or design review entity. Neither condition is automatic. A metropolitan district doesn’t pick up design review authority just by existing in a community — one of those two documents has to put it there. [C.R.S. 32-1-1004(8)(b)](https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_32-1-1004) adds a funding condition alongside that authority: a district may only furnish covenant enforcement and design review services if the revenue paying for them is derived from the area where the service is furnished. Practically, that means the answer to “who reviews my plan” isn’t a guess based on what a neighboring community does. It’s a question with a document behind it — either a contract between the master association and the district, or language inside the declaration itself. ## What a public design review office actually looks like Where a district or a community’s own public body does hold that role, the process usually looks like an architectural review committee’s — a submittal packet, a plan you turn in before work starts, and standard forms for common project types. The Sterling Ranch Community Authority Board’s Design Review Documents page is a working example: it posts landscape submittal packets, a professional-landscaper application form, and simple one-sheet guides for common backyard projects. Two things are worth noting about that example. First, the body running design review at Sterling Ranch is the Community Authority Board, a public body the community lists separately from its own metropolitan districts — not a single metropolitan district acting on its own. The label on the door matters, because the statute that grants review power is written for “the metropolitan district,” and a differently structured public body has to find its own authority elsewhere. Second, even a public design review office built for efficiency still asks for the same basics an HOA’s architectural review committee would: a plan for what you’re proposing, submitted before the work begins. If your community is built around a metropolitan district, don’t assume it works the same way as [Sterling Ranch](https://www.timelessgrass.com/denver-metro/sterling-ranch-co/) or [Castle Pines](https://www.timelessgrass.com/denver-metro/castle-pines-co/). Ask which public body, if any, holds design review authority for your address, and get the name of the specific document that grants it. ## The backyard protection travels with the declaration, not the reviewer One question follows naturally from all this: if a metropolitan district, rather than your association, is the one reviewing plans, does Colorado’s state-level protection for backyard turf still apply? It does, because the protection is written into what the declaration is allowed to say, not into who enforces it. [C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i.5)](https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_38-33.3-106.5) restricts association design guidelines from prohibiting nonvegetative turf grass in the backyard of a unit’s property, subject to a notice-and-cure process before any legal action. When a metropolitan district enforces that same declaration under 32-1-1004(8)(a) — whether by contract or because the declaration names the district — it’s enforcing a document that’s still bound by that limit. Changing which body reviews the plan doesn’t change what the underlying covenant is allowed to restrict. That’s a reason to read the declaration itself, not just whatever design-review handbook your district or association hands you. Our [Colorado city artificial turf codes guide](https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-city-artificial-turf-codes/) has the municipal layer that can sit on top of both. ## What a professional install plans around Once you know which body reviews your plan, a [custom turf or putting-green layout](https://www.timelessgrass.com/services/residential-turf/) still has to answer the questions any reviewer will ask: - **A scaled plan showing the proposed area.** Most submittal packets, public or private, ask for a current site condition and a proposed layout side by side. - **Materials and specifications.** What’s proposed, and where the edges and transitions to existing landscaping fall. - **How the plan reads against the community’s own design standards** — setbacks, visibility from the street or a shared amenity, and any limits specific to that document. On the free visit, we measure your lot and check the ground, and you approve the layout before anything is ordered. Having your submittal document in hand — the association’s form, or the district’s — means that approved layout is the one that goes to whichever body reviews it, without a second round. ## Questions to settle before your plan is final 1. **Which document governs design review for your address** — the declaration, a separate covenant enforcement contract, or both? Ask your closing documents, title company, or property manager. 2. **If a metropolitan district is involved, which of the two conditions in 32-1-1004(8)(a) applies** — a contract with the master association, or a declaration that names the district directly? 3. **What does that body’s submittal packet actually require?** Site plan, materials list, setback or visibility rules specific to your community. 4. **Does your backyard fall under Colorado’s state-level turf protection**, and does the local design guideline you’ve been handed reflect it? 5. **Who signs off last** — is there a second body (an HOA layered over a district’s amenities, or vice versa) that also needs to see the plan? Bring what you find to the free visit, and we’ll build the layout around the plan your reviewing body needs to see. Reach us at 303-349-2368 to set it up. ## Common questions ### Can a metropolitan district really approve my landscaping plan? Yes, if the paperwork supports it. Under [C.R.S. 32-1-1004(8)(a)](https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_32-1-1004), a district may provide covenant enforcement and design review for an area within it if either the master association and district have a contract defining that duty, or the declaration or a similar covenant document names the district as the enforcement or design review body. Ask which condition applies to your community. ### Where does the money for a district's design review office come from? From the area it serves. [C.R.S. 32-1-1004(8)(b)](https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_32-1-1004) lets a district provide covenant enforcement and design review only if the revenue funding those services comes from the area within the district that receives them. ### Is Sterling Ranch's design review office a metropolitan district? No. Design review at Sterling Ranch runs through the Sterling Ranch Community Authority Board, a public body distinct from the community's own metropolitan districts. Confirm the exact body and document for your own community rather than assuming the pattern carries over. ### If a district enforces my covenant, does Colorado's backyard turf protection still apply? The protection sits in the declaration itself, not in who enforces it. [C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i.5)](https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_38-33.3-106.5) restricts what association design guidelines may say about nonvegetative turf grass in a backyard. A district enforcing that same declaration under 32-1-1004(8)(a) is enforcing a document still bound by that limit. ### Can I find both documents myself before the free visit? Often, yes. Closing documents typically include the declaration and any separate covenant enforcement agreement. Your title company, property manager, or the district manager can confirm which one governs design review for your address, and whether a metro district or the master association handles it. ## Related turf questions - [Does a Private School's Play Yard Fall Under Child Care Licensing Rules?](https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/private-school-play-yard-child-care-licensing/) - [Converting a community's irrigated grass to turf, what happens to its SJRWMD water use permit?](https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/sjrwmd-water-use-permit-turf-conversion/) - [Turf and Fill Under an Elevated Grand Strand Home: What a V Zone Allows](https://www.timelessgrass.com/blog/turf-fill-under-an-elevated-coastal-home/) ## Where to go next - [Artificial lawns](https://www.timelessgrass.com/services/residential-turf/) - [Turf in Denver Metro](https://www.timelessgrass.com/denver-metro/) - [Colorado HOA Turf Rules: What Your Board Can and Cannot Stop](https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-hoa-turf-rules/) - [Where your Denver-metro city's own code allows artificial turf, side by side](https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-city-artificial-turf-codes/) Useful links - [C.R.S. 32-1-1004(8)(a) and (8)(b), metropolitan district covenant enforcement and design review powers](https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_32-1-1004) - [C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i.5), Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act: association design guidelines and nonvegetative turf grass in the backyard](https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_38-33.3-106.5) Free estimate ## Planning a turf installation? Tell us about the area you want to install or replace. We’ll call to arrange a free site visit. [Or call 303-349-2368](tel:3033492368) Your free estimate includes - A visit to measure your space - A custom layout, drawn for your space - Turf options, side by side - A written price, with no pressure to sign [Request a free estimate](https://www.timelessgrass.com/estimate/) Five short steps. We’ll call to arrange your visit.