Highlands Ranch Community Association

Looked up · RV in the driveway — 72 hours

RVs, boats, campers

They printed 72 hours. They copied that line from neighborhood paperwork they do not show you. We have not read the one on your house.

Do not park the camper off this page. 72 hours may not be your rule.

Section 2.47 does not invent 72 hours. It quotes “Section 4.7 of the Supplemental Declaration” — a document recorded against a neighborhood, not posted on their site. Highlands Ranch has many filings. That sentence may match yours. It may not. The design reviewers then say those 72 hours sit inside any 7 days, for loading, not storage. They claim a typical §4.7 lets them say that. We have not seen yours. After the window they describe: garage, off-site, or their written OK. No vehicle on landscaping. This card is a photocopy plus their commentary. It is not the rule for your driveway.

• The 72-hour sentence is copied from neighborhood paperwork they did not attach.
• Your filing might use those words. A different filing might not.
• They say the 72 hours are for loading, inside any 7 days — that is their reading of a document we do not have.
• Work trailers and logo trucks are a different, posted section. That one is free.
• No parking on rock, sod, mulch, or plants. That line is in the posted book.

“No recreation vehicle, camper, campers not on a truck, boat, mobile home, horse trailer or other trailer, tractor, motor home or truck (other than a pickup truck) shall be stored...anywhere within the...Property...in such a manner as to be visible from any portion of the...Property for longer than seventy-two (72) hours....”

“The Architectural Committee further defined the timeline, as authorized under Section 4.7, to be seventy-two (72) hours within a seven (7) day period. The intent of the 72 hours is to afford owners with reasonable time to load and unload the RV, not to provide storage/parking for the unit.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · §2.47, p. 33 Quoted in the guidelines · not pulled Supplemental declaration · as quoted in the June 2025 guidelines

Looked up · Same-color repaint

Exterior paint

Their sentence covers everything: approval may be required for all exterior painting — repainting the same color included. The color call is the committee's to make, not this page's.

Do not buy paint off this card.

Section 2.50 makes exterior color a submittal: manufacturer chips or samples with the color number, plus where each color goes on the house. The stated goal is neighborhood-context review — harmony over any fixed palette.

• The submittal wants manufacturer name, color name, and number per location (their example: Base: Sherwin Williams Urban Putty, SW7532).
• Filing is free, through the improvement office.
• This one is fully in the posted book — nobody should pay us $49 to answer it.

“ARC approval may be required for all exterior painting, even if painting the same color. This includes all exterior painted areas on the home, deck, patio, balcony, etc.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Painting · §2.50, p. 34

This one is in the posted book — don't pay us for it. Want to do the work? File with the improvement office at (303) 471-8821 (their form).

Looked up · Fence stain and replacement

Fences, gates & stain

The stain is printed — 'Highlands Ranch Fence Brown', mixing formula and all. Whose rules govern your fence line is not: sub-association fences answer to their own colors, and some fences belong to the metro district, which must say yes before the committee will even look.

Do not stain or pull a fence off this card.

Section 2.30 is four pages: pre-approved designs (Figures 1–5G, rough sawn cedar), a required stain with per-brand formulas, a wing-fence rule that applies no matter who built it, and two other governments in the margins — the metro district that owns some fences, and sub-associations with stricter overlays.

• A wing fence may not be removed, replaced, or altered without committee approval — regardless of who built it.
• Repairs of 25% or more of a fence may need approval; under 25% must be like-for-like.
• No more than one fence on a property line; nothing may be attached to increase height or screening.
• Solid fences: 5 or 6 feet, top-capped, per their figures — 'except those properties subject to stricter sub-association fencing requirements.'

“Fences are required to be stained “Highlands Ranch Fence Brown” solid stain color, unless otherwise noted below.”

“If you reside in a Sub-Association, please consult with your respective association for the approved stain color.”

“Some fences may be owned and/or located on property owned by the Highlands Ranch Metro District (HRMD) and, if so, approval from the HRMD must be obtained prior to submitting to the ARC for review and approval.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Fences · §2.30, pp. 19–23 HRCA assessments page Sub-association fencing overlays — not posted here · referenced in §2.30.A and §2.30.D.4

Looked up · Shed size and materials

Sheds and accessory buildings

The sizes are printed: one shed per property, 8 by 10 by 8½ feet tall at most, matching the house, screened, two feet off any line. No resin, metal, or plastic-composite sheds at all.

Do not pour a slab off this card.

Storage Sheds (§2.78) points at Accessory Buildings (§2.2), which carries the real spec: dimensions, materials matching the house, screening, setbacks — and an exemption for anything under 24 square feet that stays below the privacy fence.

• Maximum 8' × 10' × 8½' high including skids, foundation, or slab — bigger needs a variance.
• Under 24 sq ft and below a privacy fence: approval not required.
• Style, roofing, and siding/trim colors shall match the existing house; utilities go underground.
• Douglas County building permits are a separate, governmental question (their own §2.1 says so).

“Only one (1) accessory building/storage shed shall be permitted per property. Smaller lots may not have a suitable location for a storage shed. No resin, metal or plastic composite sheds are permitted.”

“Maximum size is 8’ by 10’ by 8 ½’ in height, including skids, foundation, or concrete slab unless approved for a variance by the ARC.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Accessory Buildings / Storage Sheds · §2.2, p. 8; §2.78, p. 44

This one is in the posted book — don't pay us for it. Want to do the work? File with the improvement office at (303) 471-8821 (their form).

Looked up · Rooftop solar

Solar panels

Their book names the state statute in its first breath — Colorado limits what any association may do about solar — and then sets placement and finish standards the committee reviews against.

Do not sign an installer's contract off this card.

Section 2.73 opens by anchoring itself to C.R.S. § 38-30-168, Colorado's solar-access law, then runs two pages of standards for roof-mounted devices. The review is real; the backdrop is a statute that constrains it.

• The section covers all roof-mounted devices, solar included.
• Filing is free, through the improvement office; the statute is state law, not an HOA rule.
• Fully in the posted book — no reason to pay us for this one.

“Consistent with Colorado Revised Statute § 38-30-168, ARC approval may be required for all roof-mounted devices, including solar devices, and the following standards shall apply with respect to the installation, maintenance, and use of roof-mounted devices and solar devices.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Solar Energy Devices · §2.73, pp. 41–43 State law C.R.S. § 38-30-168 (solar access) · cited by name in §2.73

This one is in the posted book — don't pay us for it. Want to do the work? File with the improvement office at (303) 471-8821 (their form).

Looked up · Rain barrels

Rain barrels

Allowed under the state statute their own book cites — and still an approval: every system needs committee review first. Two barrels, 110 gallons combined, downspouts only, side or rear yard.

Do not install off this card — theirs is the approval that counts.

Rainwater Harvesting was added to the book in June 2025 (§3.11). It tracks C.R.S. § 37-96.5-103: rooftop collection for outdoor use on the same property, with HRCA's own submittal (site plan, barrel specs, overflow, screening) on top.

• Maximum two barrels per dwelling, 110 gallons combined.
• Rooftop downspout collection only; outdoor use on the same property; never indoors.
• Side or rear yard only — no front-yard placement or street visibility.
• Neutral colors, no logos; installation without approval risks enforcement and removal.

“In accordance with Colorado Revised Statutes § 37-96.5-103, homeowners may collect rooftop precipitation using rain barrels for non-potable, outdoor use on the same property.”

“All rainwater harvesting systems require prior review and approval by the Architectural Review Committee (ARC).”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Rainwater Harvesting · §3.11, pp. 52–53 State law C.R.S. § 37-96.5-103 (rain barrels) · cited by name in §3.11.A

This one is in the posted book — don't pay us for it. Want to do the work? File with the improvement office at (303) 471-8821 (their form).

Looked up · Clothesline

Clotheslines

The book allows a retractable backyard line — screened, taken down after each use. The same paragraph warns that many Supplemental Declarations ban visible drying outright. Which sentence governs your lot is written in paper they did not post.

Do not string the line off this card.

Section 2.18 gives with one hand (temporary or retractable lines in the backyard, no approval needed) and points at the other book with the second: under 'many of the currently existing Supplemental Declarations,' visible drying is prohibited. Both sentences are theirs. We report both.

• The no-approval allowance requires: backyard, adequate visual screening, actually taken down or retracted after each use.
• The supplement-side warning has no list attached — no way to tell from the posted book which filings ban it.

“Approval is not required for temporary or retractable clothes lines or clothes drying structures located in the backyard with adequate visual screening and which can be, and are in fact, taken down or retracted after each use.”

“Note: Under many of the currently existing Supplemental Declarations, clothing, fabrics, and other articles may not be hung, dried or aired so as to be visible from other property except as provided in guidelines of the approval (conditional approval).”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Clothes Lines and Hangers · §2.18, p. 15 Quoted in the guidelines · not pulled Your supplemental declaration — not posted · referenced in §2.18

Looked up · Hens and the pet cap

Hens and the pet cap

Their book allows up to four hens with a sized coop. The Supplemental Declaration it quotes right underneath says 'a reasonable number' of household pets. Two standards on one page — we report both. We have not read the one recorded on your house.

Do not order the coop off this card.

Section 2.17 sets hard numbers — coop no bigger than 4' × 7' × 4.5', a run at 10 square feet per bird capped at 40 (their parenthetical: 'based on a maximum allowance of four hens'), setbacks, no front yard — and a combined cap of four animals per property counting dogs and cats. Then it quotes §4.8 of the Supplemental Declaration, which speaks only of 'a reasonable number.'

• Four animals per property, total — dogs, cats, hens counted together.
• Coop max 4' wide × 7' long × 4.5' high; run max 40 sq ft; 5' side / 8' rear setbacks; never the front yard.
• Roosters: not permitted. Goats, ducks, pigs, horses: not permitted.
• If the coop's run has a roof, the whole thing counts as one accessory structure.

“If a chicken run is included (regardless of whether it is a roofed structure or not), its size is limited to 10 square-feet per bird, with a maximum size of 40 square-feet allowed (based on a maximum allowance of four hens).”

“A reasonable number of dogs, cats or other household pets may be kept on a Residential Site, provided that (a) they are not kept, bred, or maintained for any commercial purposes, and (b) they do not make objectionable noises or otherwise constitute and unreasonable nuisance to other Owners.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Chicken Coops/Houses/Runs · §2.17, pp. 14–15 Quoted in the guidelines · not pulled Supplemental declaration §4.8 · as quoted in the June 2025 guidelines

Looked up · Yard-sale limits

Garage and yard sales

Printed limits: up to four sales a calendar year, each no more than 72 consecutive hours, two signs on your property — with dimensions. It's all in the posted book.

This card is their published rule, not an event permit.

The June 2025 update folded garage/yard sales into §2.13 with hard numbers: frequency, duration, where the tables go, sign sizes and timing. Sales that exceed the standards 'may be considered business activity.'

• Driveway or front yard only; don't block sidewalks, streets, or neighbors' access; two weeks between sales.
• Up to two signs on your property + two directional signs off-site with the owner's permission; 24" × 24" max, 4' tall, free-standing.
• Signs up no earlier than 24 hours before, down within 12 hours after.
• Official HRCA garage-sale signs are sold at the rec centers.

“Homeowners may hold up to four (4) garage or yard sales per calendar year. Each sale may last no more than 72 consecutive hours—for example, a Friday through Sunday.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Business Activity & Garage/Yard Sales · §2.13, pp. 13–14 Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Signs · §2.71, pp. 40–41

This one is in the posted book — don't pay us for it. Want to do the work? File with the improvement office at (303) 471-8821 (their form).

Looked up · Work truck or equipment trailer

Work trucks and equipment trailers

Their definition is wide — a business name, a logo, equipment racks, or any trailer carrying tools makes a vehicle 'commercial' — and the printed parking answer is the garage, unless the committee approves the driveway.

Do not route the fleet off this card.

Section 2.19 defines commercial vehicles, prohibits eight types outright (box trucks, enclosed and flatbed trailers, semis, tow trucks, buses, food trucks), and allows one commercial vehicle per property — garaged, or driveway-parked only with approval judged on curb appeal, size, and signage.

• Trailers used to carry equipment or tools — commercial or recreational — are commercial vehicles by their definition.
• One commercial vehicle per property unless consistently garaged; one standard toolbox in the bed with approval.
• Big logos and paint schemes go to the committee on curb-appeal review.
• Camper, boat, and RV trailers are a different section with a different answer — §2.47.

“Trailers used to carry equipment or tools (commercial or recreational) are considered commercial vehicles.”

“All commercial vehicles shall be parked in the garage unless approval has been given to park in the driveway.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Commercial Vehicle(s)/Trailers · §2.19, pp. 15–16

This one is in the posted book — don't pay us for it. Want to do the work? File with the improvement office at (303) 471-8821 (their form).

Looked up · Flags vs banners vs signs

Flags, banners, and yard signs

One wall-mounted flagpole needs no approval. A ground pole has printed criteria. Outside an election window, two flags or banners — and two signs — per property is their printed ceiling.

This card reports their published limits, nothing more.

Flagpoles are §2.32 (wall-mounted: one per home, up to six feet, no approval; ground-mounted: silver or bronze, five feet off property lines, below the roofline). Quantities live in §2.71: two signs, two flags/banners — swelling during the 45-days-before to 7-days-after election window.

• Ground flagpole: on your own ground, not on a deck/patio/retaining wall, residential style, unlit unless approved.
• Yard/window signs 18" × 24" max (36" × 48" during an election window; up to fifteen signs then).
• Flags and banners 3' × 5' max; illumination only where the Federal Flag Code requires it.
• Banners belong in a window or on a patio/balcony — never on a fence.

“No more than two flags or banners may be displayed on any privately owned property.”

“Wall Mounted Flagpole. One (1) per home is allowed. Approval is not required; however, the flagpole must be mounted on property wholly owned by the homeowner and may not exceed six (6) feet in length.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Flagpoles · §2.32, p. 23 Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Signs and/or Advertising Devices · §2.71, pp. 40–41

This one is in the posted book — don't pay us for it. Want to do the work? File with the improvement office at (303) 471-8821 (their form).

Looked up · Xeriscape / ColoradoScape

ColoradoScape / xeriscape

Six pre-approved ColoradoScape plans exist — pick one, submit it, plant it. Anything else is a landscape plan for the committee. Large expanses of rock don't count.

Do not tear out the lawn off this card.

They renamed xeriscape 'ColoradoScape' (§2.94). The committee pre-approved six CSU Plant Select designs for front yards; reasonable substitutes are allowed when a plant is unavailable. Their definition: under 50% sod in the front (or a rear/side yard wider than 15 feet) is ColoradoScape — and it comes with printed seasonal maintenance duties.

• The six pre-approved plans are in the book's appendices and at hrcaonline.org/xeriscape.
• A pre-approved plan still gets submitted — to confirm it's on the list.
• Rock and mulch expanses are explicitly not ColoradoScape.
• Maintenance is part of the deal: their seasonal checklist is printed in the section.

“The Architectural Review Committee (ARC) has selected six (6) pre-approved ColoradoScape plans created by the Colorado State University Plant Select (CSUPS) that may be installed in front yards.”

“A landscape containing less than 50% sod in the “front yard,” and/or “rear yard,” and/or “side yards” that are wider than 15 feet, shall be considered ColoradoScape. Large expanses of rock and/or mulch are not considered ColoradoScape.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · ColoradoScape · §2.94, pp. 47–48

This one is in the posted book — don't pay us for it. Want to do the work? File with the improvement office at (303) 471-8821 (their form).

Looked up · Home business and rentals

Home business and rentals

Home occupation with no external evidence — that's their own sentence. The 30-day minimum lease is not in the book's own voice: it sits inside a Supplemental Declaration §4.2 they quote as typical. Yours may read differently; nobody posted it.

Do not list the house off this card.

Section 2.13 states the operating rule (professional or home-based occupations with no external evidence and no unreasonable inconvenience) and then quotes an entire §4.2 'Residential Use' out of the Supplemental Declaration — including the 30-day floor on leases. That quotation is the photocopy problem: the recorded version on your lot is the one that governs.

• Review criteria they list: trash, sound, odor, signage, traffic, vehicles, parking, deliveries, employees, neighborhood impact.
• Douglas County zoning is a separate question — their book hands you the county's number, (303) 660-7460.
• Nothing in the posted book says 'Airbnb' — the 30-day lease floor is the quoted supplement's language.

“The owner of a residential site may use his property for professional or other home-based occupations so long as there is no external evidence thereof and no unreasonable inconvenience to the neighbors is created.”

“...the Owner of such Site may rent or lease a Dwelling Unit constructed on the Site for residential living purposes for a term of at least thirty (30) days, pursuant to a written lease or rental agreement.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · Business Activity from a Residence · §2.13, pp. 13–14 Quoted in the guidelines · not pulled Supplemental declaration §4.2 · as quoted in the June 2025 guidelines

Looked up · 2026 assessments

Assessments

$696 for 2026 — $174 a quarter, split $16 administrative and $158 recreation — unless the lot is commercial or in four named subdivisions, where it's $64 admin-only. Whether a second association also bills a given address is not on the page.

For a balance on a real closing, only their status letter counts.

The association publishes its schedule: board-approved October 21, 2025, quarterly billing (January, April, July, October), a $35 late fee after a 45-day grace on quarterly accounts, and a separate admin-only tier. What the page can't tell you is the stack — sub-association dues and metro-district mills land on the same houses.

• 2026: $696/year = $174/quarter ($16 admin + $158 recreation, their published split).
• Admin-only $64/year (due January 1): all commercial property plus Gleneagles Village, The Retreat, The Villages, and Palomino Park (Gold Peak and Silver Mesa).
• Late fees: $35 quarterly / $13 annual-commercial, after a 45-day grace. NSF $25.
• Closing paper, their fee schedule: status letter $150, account statement $50, transfer fee $175, estoppel $250.
• Sub-association lots pay both bills — HRCA's page says so — and metro-district mills are the tax-bill layer on top.

“Assessments for 2026 are $696.00; or $174.00 per quarter... Administrative functions: $16.00/quarter... Recreation Functions: $158.00/quarter... *Approved by the Board of Directors October 21, 2025”

“*Late fees are charged to homeowners when assessments are past due after 45-day grace period.”

HRCA assessments page HRCA Assessments page · read 2026-08-15

Looked up · If the PDFs disagree

What actually binds the lot

Their own §1.5: the guidelines cannot supersede the Community Declaration or your Supplemental Declaration — on any conflict, the declarations govern. The book is posted. The declarations it defers to are a 75-page scan and a filing they never posted at all.

This card is their hierarchy, quoted — not an opinion about any dispute.

Page 2 of the book settles the order of authority: guidelines lose to the recorded declarations. It even tells you where the property rules live — Articles IX and X of the Community Declaration, Article IV 'in most Supplemental Declarations.' 'Most' is doing quiet work in that sentence: your filing is its own document.

• The Community Declaration they post cites its recording as Book 421, Page 924, September 17, 1981 — their copy, not our county pull.
• Ground joins HRCA by annexation under a Supplemental Declaration; each filing has its own.
• Approvals, once granted and built to plan, are final by their own text — not subject to appeal.

“Nothing in these Guidelines can supersede or alter the provisions or requirements of the Community Declaration or of the applicable Supplemental Declaration and, if there is any conflict or inconsistency, the Community Declaration and the applicable Supplemental Declaration governs.”

“Provisions relating to the use of property and to Improvements to Property are found in Article IX and X of the Community Declaration and in Article IV in most Supplemental Declarations.”

Guidelines · June 2025 Guidelines · June 2025 · §1.5, p. 2 As posted by HRCA Community Declaration — as posted by the association · cited as Book 421, Page 924 · Sept 17, 1981 (Douglas County) Quoted in the guidelines · not pulled Your supplemental declaration — not posted · referenced throughout the guidelines

Not in this set. We will not guess.

We answer only from the sections we have read and quoted — this question isn't one of them. That is not a claim their book is silent: it runs 80 pages, and its own §2.1 says any improvement not specifically listed requires committee review and written approval. Ask the improvement office at (303) 471-8821.

Two different sections answer that — which do you mean?

Their book splits this by use, and the two sections read differently. Pick the one you're actually asking about; we won't merge them.