Artificial turf in Sierra Ridge, CO, planned around your fence.

Back yard only, fenced on every side, and out of sight.

The metropolitan district enforces Sierra Ridge's covenants, and its Rules, Regulations & Guidelines, revised effective 1 January 2025, set the terms above in one clause. A front yard, a side yard and the tree lawn don't qualify.

Before you choose between a lawn, a dog area and a green, stand at the street, and at any path or open space beside your lot, and look back at the yard. A gate, a gap or an open section of fence can put turf in view.

If your lot backs to open space, know the exceptions.

The fence rules make the turf rule harder for some lots than others. Solid 6-foot privacy fencing is allowed inside a lot only where the lot doesn't adjoin a park, school playground, open space, common area or internal bike or pedestrian path. Along those lot lines, the only fence you may install is 48-inch open 3-rail, and privacy fencing that meets an open-rail run must be tapered down, or "stepped," to meet it.

Double fencing isn't permitted, and builder perimeter and open-space fencing can't be changed except by adding heavy-gauge wire inside it — wire on an open rail still leaves the yard in view. But the rules carve out one exception: "Limited use of fencing around hot tubs, animal enclosures, or play areas will be considered on a case-by-case basis." A dog run or a putting-green enclosure on an open-rail lot may qualify under that clause; it isn't automatic, and the committee decides case by case.

If your lot backs to open space, hold off on ordering anything. Ask the committee in writing whether your back yard can qualify at all — citing the case-by-case fencing exception if you want a pet area or a green — and get its answer before you spend money on materials.

Send the plan, then wait for a written decision.

Requests go to the district's management company by email, mail or the online owner portal, listed on the district's Architectural Review page. Include a plot plan and a description of the surrounding landscaping — excavation and site work count as improvements under the rules, so the base preparation belongs on the plan too.

The committee normally meets once a month, at irregular intervals, and it may take up to 30 days after it receives your request to respond. Silence isn't consent: with no written response within 45 days, the request is deemed disapproved. A denial can be appealed to the Board of Directors in writing within 45 days. Keep the approval letter — the rules treat nothing said by the board, the manager or the committee as binding unless it's written down.

All landscaping needs the committee's written approval, not only turf; the rules flag it specifically when a yard has less than 50% sod or the lot sits next to open space or a roadway. Areas unimproved at conveyance must be at least 50% plant material — irrigated turf, shrubs and trees are the examples given. Artificial turf isn't named among them, so ask the committee whether it counts before you replace an entire rear lawn.

The tree lawn is yours to plant; the water district takes checking.

The tree lawn, the strip between the curb and the sidewalk, is yours to look after. With the committee's prior approval you can swap its grass for native and naturalized plants, following the district's Water Wise Gardens Guide of November 2023. It offers six garden templates, encourages replacing the turfgrass there with plants, keeps existing trees in place, and in its rock-mulch instructions tells you not to alter the land grade. Call 811 before anyone digs.

The district doesn't publish who supplies your water. Its list of overlapping entities names both the Town of Parker and Parker Water & Sanitation District. Sierra Ridge sits in unincorporated Douglas County, not the Town, so that list alone doesn't settle it — check your bill or call PWSD's Customer Care team at 303-841-4627 to confirm (PWSD service area).

PWSD asks customers to water efficiently during summer, with prohibited hours and an even/odd address schedule that can change year to year — check its current page before you set an irrigation plan (PWSD watering restrictions). Synthetic turf behind the fence needs none of those days.

Follow the district's own drainage rule.

Sierra Ridge sits at 5,952 feet, an unincorporated community in Douglas County with a ZIP Code of 80134 (Sierra Ridge, Colorado). The district's own mailing address, 10185 Urbana Boulevard, sits inside that same ZIP Code, in Parker (Governing Documents).

The district's rules protect drainage directly: "There shall be no interference with the established drainage pattern over any property within the Community except as approved in writing by the ARC." They also ask for plants that don't need excessive moisture around foundations, and require approval for retaining walls or grade changes. The Design Review Request has you confirm that any change in drainage and elevation won't harm neighboring properties.

We install with site prep and a base built for your soil, then a walkthrough of the care it needs. Put your grading question to the committee in writing before you order anything, so the plan the ARC approves is the base you actually get.