Westcreek, CO

Douglas County does not require cats to be leashed or licensed: the license/rabies-tag rule applies to dogs. Cats do count as "household pets" toward the 4- or 8-pet zoning limit, and…

Douglas County zones livestock by "animal units." A horse, cow, mule, or llama counts as 1 unit; miniature horses, swine, sheep, goats, or alpacas count 4-to-1. On ER and RR parcels…

Douglas County has no ordinance using the word "hoarding," but pet-number limits and sanitation rules act as a backstop. Keeping more than four dogs without a kennel, or letting waste…

A veterinary clinic or hospital on unincorporated Douglas County land outside the A-1, LRR, and RR zone districts needs Board approval as a Use by Special Review under Zoning…

In unincorporated Douglas County, nondomestic or exotic animals are permitted only as a "use by special review" approved by the Board of County Commissioners, and only in the A-1…

No. Colorado state law bars any county or town from regulating dangerous dogs by breed, so Douglas County has no pit-bull or breed ban. The county instead regulates individual…

In unincorporated Douglas County a dog must be kept under "control": restrained by a leash or tether no more than 30 feet long or confined in an escape-proof enclosure. Letting a dog…

Douglas County has no separate wildlife-feeding ordinance, but Colorado state law makes it unlawful to place food in the open to lure a wild bear. Given the county's foothills…

Unincorporated Douglas County allows home businesses as a Class 1 or Class 2 home occupation, capped at 50% of the dwelling's floor area or a small accessory building, with strict size…

Colorado's Cottage Foods Act lets Douglas County residents sell certain non-hazardous homemade foods directly to consumers without a license or inspection, capped at $10,000 net sales…

Douglas County bans exterior advertising for any home occupation, Class 1 or Class 2. Section 1-2303(5) and its Class 2 counterpart, § 1-2305(5), both state there shall be no exterior…

Unincorporated Douglas County lets a small home daycare, up to six children (nine with a state license), operate as an accessory use alongside a house in every residential zone…

Douglas County limits how much traffic a home occupation can generate. Both Class 1 and Class 2 rules state that traffic shall not be generated which significantly affects the…

A Douglas County Short-Term Rental license lasts one calendar year, or ends immediately when the property is sold. Owners must file a full renewal application every year, resubmitting…

Douglas County charges a $500 application review fee the first year, $270 to renew, plus a $130 license fee each year. Owners must collect and remit all applicable taxes: Colorado's…

Douglas County does not require the host to sleep onsite, but every rental must name a Local Responsible Agent (which can be the owner). That agent or owner must be available 24 hours…

The STR ordinance does not set a decibel limit itself. Instead, each rental must post written good-neighbor guidelines covering noise, and general Douglas County noise rules and quiet…

Douglas County does not require a short-term rental to be the owner's primary residence, so non-owner-occupied and investment rentals are allowed. However, where a lot holds more than…

All guest vehicles and trailers at a Douglas County rental must fit on the property's permitted, approved driveway. Parking on vegetated (landscaped or natural) areas is prohibited…

For a Douglas County rental on central sewer, overnight occupancy cannot exceed two guests per bedroom. On a septic (on-site wastewater) system, occupancy cannot exceed the system's…

Douglas County sets no maximum number of nights a licensed short-term rental may operate each year. However, a home rented 14 days or fewer per calendar year, and not regularly…

Douglas County's ordinance does not require short-term rental owners to carry a specific liability insurance policy. It does make the owner strictly and non-delegably liable for full…

Douglas County caps outdoor noise at 55 dB(A) by day and 50 dB(A) at night across its A-1, LRR, RR, ER, SR, MF and MH zone districts, measured at the property line. Short, occasional…

Douglas County has no leaf-blower ban. Instead, Section 17A excludes routine property maintenance from the noise limits, but only between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Outside those hours…

Douglas County's Section 17A excludes motor vehicles, motorcycles, off-highway vehicles and snowmobiles from its noise limits. Loud vehicles are instead governed by Colorado's state…

Federal law preempts Douglas County from regulating aircraft noise, so Centennial Airport traffic is expressly excluded from the county's decibel limits. Real protection instead comes…

In unincorporated Douglas County (including Highlands Ranch), residential and agricultural zones may not exceed 55 dB(A) from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., dropping to 50 dB(A) overnight…

Animals are specifically excluded from Douglas County's Section 17A noise limits, so barking is not measured in decibels. Instead it is handled as a nuisance under the county's Animal…

Douglas County doesn't set a construction start-and-stop clock; it regulates construction noise by decibel level instead. Under § 1-1703A(3), construction activity is capped at 80…

Douglas County caps electronic amplifier noise at 55 dB(A) in its Business, Commercial, Light Industrial and General Industrial districts (and comparable Planned Development areas)…

In unincorporated Douglas County, a fence or wall needs a county building permit only once it passes six feet, or four feet for a retaining wall. A standard backyard privacy fence…

In unincorporated Douglas County's SR Suburban Residential District, a solid fence, wall, or hedge tops out at six feet, dropping to four feet in the setback facing a street…

Douglas County's SR Suburban Residential District bans barbed wire, electrically charged fencing, concertina wire, and razor wire outright on residential lots. § 1-715(8) draws no…

A retaining wall in unincorporated Douglas County needs a county building permit once it passes four feet in height, two feet lower than the six-foot trigger for an ordinary fence or…

Douglas County does not force neighbors to share fence costs. Fences may not be built in the public right-of-way but are allowed within setbacks on private land, and each landowner is…

Douglas County requires every swimming pool in unincorporated areas, including Highlands Ranch, to be enclosed by a fence or wall that meets or exceeds the pool-barrier standards in…

Open burning of wood, vegetation or slash requires a permit from your local fire protection district, and all open burning is prohibited when County fire restrictions are in effect…

Colorado allows only non-aerial, non-explosive "permissible fireworks" (fountains, sparklers, ground spinners). All aerial and audible-explosive fireworks (bottle rockets…

When no fire restrictions are in effect, residential patio fire pits, chimineas and portable fireplaces are allowed if supervised by someone 18 or older. Stage 1 restrictions permit…

Douglas County's Wildfire Hazard Overlay District covers unincorporated land the county has mapped as wildfire-prone, from foothill edges near Highlands Ranch to Sedalia and the…

Douglas County enforces the adopted International Residential and Fire Codes, which require smoke alarms in each bedroom, outside sleeping areas and on every level. Carbon monoxide…

Under Colorado law, a motor vehicle left unattended on public property outside incorporated town limits for 48 hours or longer is an 'abandoned motor vehicle' and may be towed. Castle…

Castle Rock requires all vehicles, including boats, trailers and RVs, to be parked on a driveway, parking lot or other improved surface; parking on grass or dirt is not allowed…

Douglas County zoning requires commercial sites to provide off-street loading areas that stay out of fire lanes and setbacks, with no backing maneuvers allowed in the public…

Colorado has no statewide homeowner watering ban; your water provider sets the schedule. Castle Rock Water allows outdoor watering every third day before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m., May…

Colorado encourages xeriscape and native landscaping, and state law bars HOAs from banning xeriscape or drought-tolerant plants on yards a homeowner maintains. Douglas County and its…

Unincorporated Douglas County allows one accessory dwelling unit (ADU) per lot in the A-1 Agricultural district. A detached ADU needs at least one acre on central water, or two acres…

Douglas County has no garage-conversion-specific ordinance, but converting a garage to habitable or separate living space requires a building permit, must meet the building code, and…

Douglas County has no tiny-home-specific ordinance. A tiny house on a permanent foundation must meet the 2021 building code and zoning like any dwelling. A tiny house on wheels is…

In unincorporated Douglas County, an accessory building such as a shed is capped at 20 feet tall under Zoning Resolution Section 1-714, while the principal house tops out at 35 feet…

Douglas County requires new construction and substantial improvements in the Floodplain Overlay District to elevate the lowest floor at least one foot above the base flood elevation…

Douglas County bans new structures, storage yards and junkyards outright inside its mapped Floodplain Overlay District, and requires a Floodplain Development Permit for anything else…

New development in unincorporated Douglas County must submit a grading and drainage plan under Zoning Resolution § 1-2709, separate from the county's GESC erosion-control plan. It…

Douglas County defines defensible space as the treated buffer around a structure where wildfire-carrying vegetation has been modified or removed, and it makes that buffer a real…

Every clearing, grading, or land-disturbance project in unincorporated Douglas County must comply with the county's Grading, Erosion and Sediment Control (GESC) Manual under Zoning…

Douglas County bans billboards outright, county-wide, with no exceptions for freeway frontage. Any freestanding sign next to a federal, state, or major County arterial highway must…

Douglas County allows electronic message signs only in place of a freestanding sign, one per parcel, capped at 50 square feet. Messages can change no faster than every 10-20 seconds…

In unincorporated Douglas County, political signs are regulated content-neutrally as temporary signs. They need no permit and, in most residential districts, you may post up to four…

Garage sale signs are temporary signs in unincorporated Douglas County: no permit is needed, but they must be on private property, not in the public right-of-way, and must be removed…

Douglas County caps window signs at six square feet each and ties the number allowed per business to the length of the building face at its main entrance. Buildings under 50 feet get…

Douglas County requires an entertainment event permit for festivals, carnivals and fairs on unincorporated land. Minor events get administrative sign-off from Planning Services; major…

No one may own or operate a massage facility in unincorporated Douglas County without a valid license from the County's Licensing Authority. New facilities have needed a license since…

Douglas County's home occupation rules flatly exclude motor vehicle repair and body shop work from what counts as a home business. Running a repair shop out of a house or garage in…

Douglas County confines every sexually oriented business to the C Commercial zone district under Zoning Resolution Section 1-1202, and even there Section 1-1212 forces a 1,500-foot…

Unincorporated Douglas County has opted out of marijuana entirely: no dispensary, cultivation operation, product-manufacturing facility, or testing lab may locate anywhere in the…

Douglas County protects farming and ranching through its A-1 Agricultural One zone district rather than a standalone right-to-farm ordinance. Zoning Resolution § 1-301 states urban…

Unincorporated Douglas County zoning complaints go to Planning Services, which enforces Zoning Resolution Chapter 1 under the Director's authority. Staff inspect the property, try to…

Douglas County requires a building permit from the County Building Division before anyone erects, constructs, reconstructs, alters, or changes the use of any building or structure, or…

Gas and pellet/electric smokers are treated like gas grills and are allowed year-round, including during fire restrictions. Charcoal and wood-fired smokers count as solid-fuel fires…

Gas and propane grills are allowed at homes year-round, including during Stage 1 and Stage 2 fire restrictions. Charcoal grills are allowed when supervised by a responsible adult 18 or…

Douglas County's SR Suburban Residential district scales setbacks to lot size under Zoning Resolution § 1-712: a half-acre lot needs only a 5-foot side and 15-foot rear setback, while…

Douglas County's residential zoning does not set a single percent lot-coverage cap. Building bulk is controlled through setbacks, the 35-foot height limit, gross density, and…

Douglas County's SR Suburban Residential district caps principal buildings at 35 feet and accessory buildings at 20 feet under Zoning Resolution § 1-714. Church spires, chimneys…

Douglas County's lighting standards protect the night sky by requiring most outdoor fixtures to be full cutoff, so no light shines at or above horizontal. Blinking, strobe…

Douglas County's lighting standards limit light spilling onto neighbors. Fixtures within 15 feet of a residential property line must be shielded, and light may not exceed 0.1…

Depositing trash, debris, or waste on public or private property is littering under Colorado law (C.R.S. 18-4-511), carrying mandatory fines from $20 up to $1,000 and possible cleanup…

Douglas County parks and open spaces are closed to entry, use, or occupancy between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise. Designated active regional or local parks may…