Highlands Ranch parks for a party: the rules

The Highlands Ranch Metro District rents park shelters from $20 an hour for residents, two hours minimum. It doesn’t publish a rule on bounce houses either way, so call its reservations line at 303-791-2710 and ask before you book a shelter or a castle.

Two different bodies make the rules here, and people mix them up. The Metro District runs the parks. The Highlands Ranch Community Association, the HRCA, enforces the covenants on your own lot. A party in a park is a Metro District question; a castle in your backyard is an HRCA one. Both are covered below, with links to their own pages.

Can you have a bounce house at a Highlands Ranch park?

The Metro District doesn’t publish a rule either way. Its park rules and its full rules and regulations don’t mention inflatables at all, so the answer comes from a phone call: 303-791-2710, before you reserve.

Ask two things on that call. The first is whether an inflatable is allowed at the shelter you want. The second is where it could go, because the fee schedule says a shelter reservation doesn’t include the fields or playgrounds next to it. What the park rules do spell out is that groups of five or more in an organized activity need a park permit, and that anything beyond small stakes of 10 inches or less needs a staking permit.

Which Highlands Ranch parks have shelters you can reserve?

Most of them do, and the six community parks below are the ones built for bigger groups. They’re also the only Metro District parks that list electrical outlets, which matters to us because every castle runs off a blower that needs continuous power. Capacities come from each park’s page on the Metro District site:

• Civic Green Park: Overlook and Garden shelters for up to 40 each, and the Case Pavilion for up to 100
• Central Park: the Lawn Shelter for up to 50 and the Patio for up to 100
• Falcon Park: one shelter for up to 150
• Fly’n B Park: one shelter for up to 75
• Northridge Park: two shelters, for up to 75 and up to 40
• Redstone Park: the Creekside Shelter for 100 or more, plus the Fishing Pier Shelter, Gazebo and Pumphouse Shelter for up to 40 each

Neighborhood parks such as Dad Clark, Kistler, Plum Valley and Red-tail have a shelter for up to 40 people and no listed outlets. At Toepfer Park only the playground shelter can be reserved; the other one is first come, first served. A park page listing outlets doesn’t say how far they are from the grass, so ask about that on the same call.

How much does a park shelter cost in Highlands Ranch?

Neighborhood park shelters cost $20 an hour for residents and $30 for nonresidents. The Metro District’s fee schedule has the rest, per hour, resident first:

• Community park shelters: $35, or $50 for nonresidents
• Case Pavilion at Civic Green Park and the Patio at Central Park: $55, or $85 for nonresidents

Every reservation has a two hour minimum. A party of more than 100 people may need a special event permit, which costs $45. The schedule also lists a $75 staking management fee, which a castle held down with sandbags never triggers.

How do you reserve a park shelter in Highlands Ranch?

Request it online through the Metro District’s reservations page, or call 303-791-2710. Reservations run at least two hours, with a one hour buffer between bookings for park maintenance. No glass is allowed in the parks, and the Metro District means it: pickle jars and glass serving dishes are on its list.

The cancellation policy is generous about weather. Cancel 30 days out for a full refund, 15 days out for half, and under 15 days for nothing, unless weather is the reason, in which case you can reschedule or take a refund without giving notice first. That fits how we work, since we don’t set up in rain or in wind over 15 mph. If the forecast turns, we’ll find a new date with you too.

Does the HRCA allow a bounce house in your backyard?

The HRCA’s Residential Improvement Guidelines don’t mention a rented bounce house by name. Two sections come closest. Section 2.56, on play equipment, says architectural approval may be required for anything over seven feet tall or with a footprint over 100 square feet. Section 2.82, on temporary structures, points to the Community Declaration, which bars them without approval and says approval won’t be given except in unusual circumstances.

Neither section talks about a castle that’s up for one afternoon and gone by evening. Ours stand 11 to 17 feet tall on 169 to 240 square feet, so we can’t tell you how HRCA would read it. If you want certainty, email improvements@hrcaonline.org or call 303-471-8821 before the party. Some neighborhoods also have their own supplemental declaration on top of the HRCA’s rules.

Before you book us

Highlands Ranch isn’t one of the six towns we deliver to at no extra charge. We’ll still come, for a fee that depends on the distance, so include the park or your address when you send us the date and we’ll quote it. Where we deliver lists the six towns.

The castles themselves cost the same wherever they go: $100 to $300 for the day, set up, anchored and collected. The castle specs have the weight limits, 800 pounds on Classic Castle and 1,000 on the two larger ones, and how we anchor and handle weather covers the sandbags. If the party is for a company or a whole street, company picnics and block party planning cover what changes, and if you’re weighing a park across the county line, Parker’s parks have their own rules.