--- title: "Colorado HOA Turf Rules | TIMELESS Grass & Greens" description: "Colorado declares an HOA covenant banning nonvegetative turf grass in a back yard unenforceable under C.R.S. 37-60-126(11)(a)(I). Front yards are different." url: https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-hoa-turf-rules/ updated: 2026-09-12 --- Denver Metro # Colorado HOA Turf Rules: What Your Board Can and Cannot Stop * * * Updated 2026-09-12 The short version ## Can my HOA stop me putting artificial turf in my yard in Colorado? Not by covenant, in your back yard. C.R.S. 37-60-126(11)(a)(I) declares an HOA covenant that prohibits nonvegetative turf grass in the backyard of a residential property contrary to public policy and unenforceable, and CCIOA carries the same phrase at 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i). Front yards sit outside that protection, a municipal subdivision regulation still survives it under 37-60-126(11)(d)(I), and your board faces a separate rule under Article 99 of Title 37 on the common land it owns. Cite the section number in your architectural submittal. We install artificial turf across Denver, Jefferson, Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas, Boulder and Broomfield counties. Call 303-349-2368. 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/) [Call 303-349-2368](tel:3033492368) We’ll call to arrange a free site visit. On this page On this page 1. [Yes — the protection covers artificial turf, and one word does it](https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-hoa-turf-rules/#section-1) 2. [The catch: the statute never defines the word](https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-hoa-turf-rules/#section-2) 3. [Attached or detached changes the answer](https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-hoa-turf-rules/#section-3) 4. [If the board says no anyway: 45 days and $500](https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-hoa-turf-rules/#section-4) 5. [Your HOA board faces the opposite rule on the same street](https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-hoa-turf-rules/#section-5) 6. [Where this lands in Denver metro](https://www.timelessgrass.com/guides/colorado-hoa-turf-rules/#section-6) ## Yes — the protection covers artificial turf, and one word does it Most people assume Colorado's HOA landscaping protections cover living xeriscape only. They do not. HB21-1229, signed 2 July 2021 and effective 7 September 2021, inserted the phrase **nonvegetative turf grass** into CCIOA at C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i) and into C.R.S. 37-60-126(11)(a). Read plainly, that is synthetic grass — though, as the next section shows, neither statute says so in as many words. The operative sentence sits at 37-60-126(11)(a)(I). Any covenant, declaration, bylaw or rule of a common interest community or special district "that prohibits or limits xeriscape, prohibits or limits the installation or use of drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes, requires cultivated vegetation to consist wholly or partially of turf grass, or prohibits the use of nonvegetative turf grass in the backyard of a residential property is hereby declared contrary to public policy and, on that basis, is unenforceable." Read the last clause again. A flat covenant ban on artificial turf in a Colorado back yard is unenforceable. Note the boundary the legislature wrote in alongside it: *back yard*. ## The catch: the statute never defines the word We checked 38-33.3-106.5, the definitions subsection at 37-60-126(11)(b), and the enrolled text of both HB21-1229 and SB23-178. The one term that protects you is defined in none of them. Colorado also runs two vocabularies for one product: Article 99 of Title 37 says artificial turf, the CCIOA protection says nonvegetative turf grass, and we found nothing in these acts that ties the two together. Nor is the protection absolute where it applies. C.R.S. 37-60-126(11)(d)(I) says subsection (11) "does not supersede any subdivision regulation of a county, city and county, or other municipality", and (11)(d)(II) makes it override a special district rule only where the two directly conflict. So do not assume your HOA legally cannot stop you. Submit the plan, cite the section, get the answer in writing. ## Attached or detached changes the answer SB23-178, signed 17 May 2023 and effective 7 August 2023, split the protection by housing type, so two neighbors can get different answers. Attached single-family — your home shares a wall — stays under 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i), which that act narrowed to attached homes. Detached single-family got a subsection of its own, 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i.5). For detached homes, (1)(i.5) is where the detail lives. Association guidelines must not prohibit nonvegetative turf grass in the backyard; must not unreasonably require hardscape on more than twenty percent of the landscaping area; and must allow an option consisting of at least eighty percent drought-tolerant plantings. Associations must also preapprove at least three preplanned front-yard garden designs — which is a duty about what the board has to offer, not a right you have to lay synthetic grass out front. The working rule is short. **Back yard, yes. Front yard, ask.** And three carve-outs survive either way: bona fide safety requirements, fire buffers and defensible space, and existing grading and drainage. ## If the board says no anyway: 45 days and $500 If a detached-home association denies a compliant backyard plan, 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i.5) gives the owner a route: written notice, forty-five days to cure, then suit for injunctive relief plus up to five hundred dollars or the unit owner's actual damages, whichever is greater. Five hundred dollars is not the point; the 45-day letter is. ## Your HOA board faces the opposite rule on the same street SB24-005 created Article 99 of Title 37. HB25-1113 — signed 20 May 2025, effective 6 August 2025 — amended 37-99-103(1) to insert NONFUNCTIONAL before "artificial turf". What that section bars a local entity from installing, or from allowing anyone else to install, as part of a new development or redevelopment project is nonfunctional artificial turf. "Applicable property" at 37-99-102(1) reaches common interest community property, defined at 37-99-102(5) as property inside a common interest community that the unit owners' association owns and maintains. That is the HOA's land, not your lot. And "local entity" at 37-99-102(9) includes metropolitan districts. Everything then turns on a line Article 99 draws in its definitions: **functional artificial turf** at 37-99-102(6.5), nonfunctional artificial turf at 37-99-102(12.5). Which side of that line a board's project lands on decides whether the section touches it at all, and those two definitions are where it is decided. Two limits favor a board: a redevelopment project only counts if it disturbs more than fifty percent of the aggregate landscape area, per 37-99-102(14), and 37-99-103(4)(a) grandfathers what was already installed. One does not: 37-99-103(4)(d) lets a local entity go more stringent than the state floor. Whether any Denver metro town or district has done so, we have not established. ## Where this lands in Denver metro On multifamily of more than twelve dwelling units the guidance conflicts. The Colorado Division of Real Estate's 2025 HOA Forum summary reads HB25-1113 as biting on 1 January 2026; Western Resource Advocates reads the multifamily obligation as a 1 January 2028 deadline. Ask your municipality which date it has adopted. Castle Pines Village is the cleanest illustration in the metro: a gated, unincorporated community of 2,850 acres with 4,327 residents at the 2020 census, served by both the Castle Pines Homes Association and the Castle Pines Metropolitan District. Your lot answers to CCIOA and the backyard protection. The district's common landscaping answers to Article 99, because a metropolitan district is a local entity under 37-99-102(9). Same gate, two statutes. Even where the covenant clears, the rebate often does not. Of the four Denver metro programs we checked, three exclude artificial turf outright. Centennial Water and Sanitation District, serving Highlands Ranch, states that "Artificial turf replacements are no longer eligible for rebate." The Town of Erie's 2026 program opens with "Artificial Turf is not eligible for this rebate." Denver Water lists artificial turf among the designs it will not fund on HOA and commercial projects. The fourth, Thornton Water, does pay — up to $2 per square foot, lifetime maximum $2,000 per residential lot — and its own HOA page still tells you to get association approval. ## Common questions ### Can my HOA ban artificial turf in my back yard in Colorado? Not by covenant. C.R.S. 37-60-126(11)(a)(I) declares a covenant that "prohibits the use of nonvegetative turf grass in the backyard of a residential property" contrary to public policy and unenforceable, and CCIOA carries the same phrase at 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i). Two caveats: "nonvegetative turf grass" is not defined in the definitions subsection at 37-60-126(11)(b), and under 37-60-126(11)(d)(I) subsection (11) does not supersede a municipal subdivision regulation. Submit the plan and get the answer in writing. ### What about the front yard? The protection is written as a backyard protection. The public-policy sentence at 37-60-126(11)(a)(I) reaches a covenant prohibiting nonvegetative turf grass "in the backyard of a residential property", and stops there. For detached homes, SB23-178's front-yard duty at 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i.5) runs the other way: the association must preapprove at least three preplanned garden designs. That is an obligation on the board, not a right to lay synthetic grass out front. Back yard, yes. Front yard, ask. ### The HOA denied us anyway. What now? Under 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i.5) a detached-home owner gives the association written notice and forty-five days to cure, then may sue for injunctive relief plus up to $500 or actual damages, whichever is greater. The carve-outs still stand for bona fide safety requirements, fire buffers and defensible space, and existing grading and drainage. ### Our HOA board wants turf around the community entrance. Can it? Different statute, and it runs the other way. C.R.S. 37-99-103(1), as amended by HB25-1113, bars a local entity from installing or allowing nonfunctional artificial turf as part of a new development or redevelopment project on applicable property — and applicable property reaches common interest community property under 37-99-102(5), with metropolitan districts inside the definition of local entity at 37-99-102(9). Whether a given installation is functional or nonfunctional is decided by the definitions at 37-99-102(6.5) and (12.5). 37-99-103(4)(a) grandfathers what was already installed, and the commencement date for larger communities is disputed — see the section above. This page explains the rules that apply to turf installation. It isn’t legal advice: statutes change and local codes differ, so check with your town, your water provider or your HOA before you build. Free estimate ## See the plan before you decide. Tell us about your project and we’ll call to arrange a free 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.