Getting your colors approved in a new Brighton subdivision.

Why approval comes up so often around Brighton

Much of Brighton’s newer housing was built in planned communities with covenants and a design review committee. Colorado has a lot of them: the state’s HOA Information and Resource Center counted 8,362 active association registrations at the end of 2024. In Brighton, communities like Prairie Center and Brighton Crossing are run in part through metropolitan districts, which can adopt and enforce covenants and design guidelines.

What two Brighton communities actually say

• Prairie Center (Brighton): the residential design guidelines say alterations to the exterior of existing homes must be submitted to the design review committee for approval before any work begins. Reviews run on a monthly cycle, with written notice within 30 calendar days after the cycle starts. The color standards ask that color be compatible with the home’s style, allow accent colors on doors, window frames and fascia, require radon vents painted to match the wall, and say no color palette may repeat on more than three homes in a row.
• Brighton Crossing: the Brighton Crossings Metropolitan District reminds owners that any change to the exterior of a home needs review before work begins.

Other subdivisions have their own rules, so treat these as examples of how it works, not as your rules.

Builder control: who you are really asking

In a subdivision still being built out, the association may be controlled by the builder, called the declarant. Colorado’s Common Interest Ownership Act sets when that ends: no later than 60 days after 75% of the units are conveyed to owners, two years after the declarant’s last sale in the ordinary course of business, or two years after the right to add units was last used. Owners must hold at least 25% of board seats within 60 days after 25% of units are sold, and at least a third after 50%. In practice that means early-phase owners often deal with a builder-appointed committee that prefers the original palettes.

The packet that gets approved the first time

1. Get the current guidelines and form from the district or management company, not from a neighbor’s old copy.
2. List every color: body, trim, accent, front door and garage door, with manufacturer name and code.
3. Attach real samples or chips and a current photo of the house. Some committees also want the neighboring homes’ colors to check repetition rules.
4. Submit before the cutoff. On a monthly cycle, missing the deadline by a day costs you a month.
5. Book the painter conditionally. Hold a start date that depends on approval, so the crew is ready when the letter arrives.

Timing: approve in winter, paint in spring

Exterior season around Brighton closes in early October and reopens around mid-May. Winter is the right time to get colors approved, so the work can start on the first good-weather week instead of waiting on a committee. Meanwhile interior work, which committees do not review, can run all winter. Our HOA painting page covers community and multi-home projects, and Painter Hotline handles the same approvals across the Front Range.

Sources

1. Prairie Center Residential Design Guidelines (2022), Prairie Center Metropolitan District No. 7
2. Reminder: submit landscaping plans and exterior changes for approval, Brighton Crossings Metropolitan District
3. C.R.S. 38-33.3-303, period of declarant control, Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act
4. 2024 HOA Information and Resource Center Annual Report, Colorado Division of Real Estate (DORA)

Written by the Painter Hotline crew in Brighton: 20+ years painting Colorado homes, fully insured, 5-year written workmanship warranty. Published October 30, 2026.