Artificial turf in Holly Hills, CO, under Arapahoe County's rules, not Denver's.

Change the part that is hardest to use.

A patch beside the patio, a dog’s route or a putting line can define a useful project without replacing all the planting. Mark trees, roots and irrigation before the old lawn comes out. Include any low spots and the route for materials in the visit.

For a green, choose the putts you want and leave room to stand and walk. For pets, consider cleanup access and shade alongside the turf boundary.

Use the parcel, not the mailing label.

Ask Arapahoe County about the actual scope if the proposal includes grading, drainage or other landscape changes. Check any recorded property or association requirements as well.

Use the provider on your water bill when comparing ongoing costs. A nearby Denver program should not be assumed to apply simply because the address is written the same way.

From 1 October, Denver Water's rules turn the sprinklers off.

Denver Water supplies and bills the water service directly. It lists Holly Hills Water and Sanitation District as a Total Service distributor, meaning Denver Water owns the water system and reads each customer’s meter (Denver Water). Water questions go to Denver Water; the district keeps its own operator for the sewer (Holly Hills Water and Sanitation District).

The 2026 Stage 1 drought declaration holds from 25 March 2026 through 30 April 2027 and asks for at least 20% less water (Denver Water). Through 30 September, even-numbered houses water on Sundays and Thursdays and odd-numbered houses on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and never between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. (watering rules).

From 1 October, watering grass and running spray irrigation are prohibited, and breaking the rule brings violations and charges. A synthetic lawn looks the same on 2 October as it did in July, with no controller to shut down and no brown patches to wait out.

The district issues a separate sewer bill, setting charges from your winter water use in December, January and February, which keeps summer irrigation, water that never reaches the sewer, out of the figure (Holly Hills Water and Sanitation District). Watering less in the yard shows up on the Denver Water side only.

Four Square Mile, the unincorporated pocket of Arapahoe County named for the four square miles bounded by Quebec Street, Mississippi Avenue, Havana Street and Yale Avenue (Wikipedia), lands on the same rules through a different table. Denver Water lists Havana Water and Sanitation District and Panorama Park Water Association here as Total Service distributors, the same setup as Holly Hills, while it lists Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District as a Master Meter distributor (Denver Water). Cherry Creek Valley says plainly that it "is a master meter distributor of Denver Water and follows Denver Water's rules" (Cherry Creek Valley notices), and its board adopted Denver Water's drought resolution in full, ending grass watering after 30 September 2026 (Cherry Creek Valley drought resolution). Its own watering-violation fines started 6 July 2026 and climb the same way: a warning, then $250, $500, $1,000, then possible shut-off (Cherry Creek Valley fine schedule). A Cherry Creek Valley customer should call the district directly for watering or billing questions, not Denver Water.

Arapahoe County sets the rules here, not Denver.

Holly Hills is 371 acres of unincorporated Arapahoe County with the City and County of Denver on every side (Holly Hills). Your address may read Denver, 80222, but the County, not the city, is the land-use authority for your yard. Four Square Mile, bounded by Quebec Street, Mississippi Avenue, Havana Street and Yale Avenue with Aurora on its east side (Wikipedia), is unincorporated Arapahoe County too, so the same Land Development Code and the same Public Works and Development office answer the fence, lot-coverage and landscape questions below.

That makes Arapahoe County Public Works and Development the office to ask, and its code answers part of the question already. A fence needs a permit from the PWD Building Division before it goes up, is altered or moves, and the section says it is written to reach fences that form a boundary between properties or enclose more than 15 percent of a lot (Arapahoe County Land Development Code, Section 4-1.5). Where it applies, a fence in front of the house is held to three feet and one at the side or rear to six. A short panel inside the yard for a dog run may fall below that 15 percent line, so ask the Building Division which side of it your plan falls on before you order materials.

The county's water-efficient landscape standards are aimed elsewhere: parks and open space, new development or redevelopment, and non-residential expansion. Their cap on turf is written for new single-family projects, and the code defines turf as cool-season grass, Kentucky bluegrass and fescue (Arapahoe County Land Development Code, Section 4-1.4 and Chapter 7). Nothing in the code names artificial turf either way, so ask the Planning Division to confirm in writing that your yard sits outside those standards before the layout is final.

The state's turf law doesn't touch a home lawn either. SB24-005, as amended by HB25-1113, bars local governments from allowing non-functional turf in new commercial, institutional and HOA common-area projects, and single-family yards sit outside it (SB24-005, HB25-1113). Our guide to Colorado's turf law walks through it.

Flat ground, Front Range clay, and whatever the lawn left behind.

Holly Hills sits at 5,476 feet on flat to very gently sloping ground, so grading is simple. The clay underneath is the Front Range kind: the Colorado Geological Survey says its montmorillonite and bentonite clays can expand by up to 20% when wet, at pressures to 30,000 psf, and about one in ten homes built on expansive soils is damaged over its life (Colorado Geological Survey).

What's under the grass matters too. A lawn that's been watered for years can leave old sprinkler lines, deep thatch and big surface roots from shade trees, so the free site visit looks for all of it before the old lawn comes out.

Then comes the base, built for this clay and graded to carry water away from the house, since cracked drives, walks and foundations are what the Survey says swelling clay usually breaks.