Artificial turf in Arvada, CO, kept out of public view where the code requires.

Keep the useful parts of the landscape.

In an established yard near Olde Town, work around trees, paths and existing irrigation instead of starting from an empty outline. On a newer yard, choose the lawn or pet area you actually need and leave space for shade and planting.

For a green, tell us which putt lengths you want. A sloping yard needs a discussion about the playing surface and surrounding access before you settle on its shape.

Check the requirements for this address and use.

Bring your community’s current landscape requirements if an association applies. Ask the City about the actual work, particularly front-yard changes, grading or drainage. A private backyard and a shared common area should not be treated as the same proposal.

Artificial turf removes routine lawn irrigation from the converted area. It still needs care; discuss cleaning and debris removal while comparing it with the lawn you have now.

Arvada fines lawns watered on the wrong day.

Arvada runs its own water utility, and it has been under Stage 1 mandatory restrictions since 15 April 2026, aiming for about a 20% cut in water use. Lawns get two assigned days a week and no water from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: even-numbered houses on Sunday and Thursday, odd-numbered houses on Wednesday and Saturday, and multifamily, commercial and HOA properties on Tuesday and Friday (City of Arvada).

The penalties climb: a warning notice first, then $100, $250 and $500. Anyone can report a violation at any hour through the city's Ask Arvada service, and lawn watering ends for the year on 1 October 2026.

One rule catches people out. New sod and seed follow the same two-day schedule, with no grace period while the roots take hold. Turf arrives green, and it needs none of those days.

Arvada's code keeps turf out of public view, and names one exception for a green.

The city writes its own landscaping rules, and they answer the placement question before you draw anything. Section 4-6-7-2 of the Land Development Code counts artificial turf among the inorganic materials that may not be used “as a permanent, primary ground cover within the landscaped area,” then lists the exceptions. One of them is turf that “is used for backyard and side yard applications that are not in public view,” and the code says how far public view reaches: “any area viewable from areas with public access such as streets, sidewalks, parks, and trails” (Arvada Land Development Code). That exception names back and side yards only, so a front lawn sits outside it whatever the sightlines. In a back or side yard the sightline is the test, and a corner lot’s side yard or a back fence that opens onto a park or trail is inside it.

Putting greens get their own line. Artificial turf for a putting green “not larger than 400 square feet” may go in a side or rear yard even where it is in public view. Keep the green at 400 square feet or under and the sightline stops mattering; add a surrounding lawn or go bigger, and it starts again.

East of Ward Road, around Olde Town and the post-war ranch streets, most addresses have no HOA, so that code is the only rule in play. The article covers “modification to an existing landscape area,” and it exempts single-family detached and duplex lots only where “the initial development of the subdivision contains nine or fewer lots” (Arvada Land Development Code). Ask the city’s Planning Department on 720-898-7435 whether your lot sits inside that exemption, and keep the answer in writing before the layout is final (City of Arvada).

West of Ward Road, most homes were built from the 1990s on, in master-planned neighborhoods run by HOAs and metro districts, so the plan goes to a board as well as the city. Candelas, off McIntyre Street, covers nearly 1,500 acres in six villages of detached houses, patio homes and townhomes (Candelas). Colorado law bars HOA design guidelines from prohibiting nonvegetative turf in the back yard of a detached single-family home (SB23-178). A townhome is outside that protection, and a patio home may be too, so read your covenants and send the HOA your plan. Our guide to Colorado HOA turf rules covers the rest.

Celery bottomland in the east, shallow bedrock toward the hogback.

All of Arvada sits on Front Range clay that swells when it gets wet, with pressure of up to 30,000 pounds per square foot. Cracked driveways, sidewalks and basement slabs are the usual sign (Colorado Geological Survey).

The east side is flat bottomland along Ralston Creek, where Arvada grew celery in the early twentieth century, with heavier, darker topsoil over the clay. A century of flood irrigation left old ditch laterals and uneven fill on some lots. We look for both on the free visit and build the base to suit.

The west side climbs toward the hogback and the Ralston Valley, with more slope, shallower bedrock and view lots, and its runoff heads to Standley Lake and Ralston Reservoir. On those lots, base depth and drainage decide how the turf performs.