Artificial turf across Reunion's golf courses and gates

Reunion is an unincorporated, gated golf-resort community in Osceola County about 11 miles from downtown Kissimmee, built around three championship golf courses and governed by two community development districts plus a resort property owners association. As of September 2026, a turf project here answers to Osceola County's Building Department, Florida's statewide turf standard and whichever board holds architectural review over that parcel.

Reviewed by Luis Austin, owner · Last reviewed September 21, 2026

What makes a Reunion yard different

Reunion carries three layers of oversight that most Kissimmee-area yards don't stack all at once. Two community development districts hold the roads, gatehouses and stormwater ponds; a resort property owners association runs architectural review for the homes; and a large share of the lots back a fairway or a lake where the finished job is visible to golfers, not just neighbors. Add that a big slice of Reunion's houses are rental homes running on a booking calendar rather than a family's own schedule, and the same square footage of turf gets asked to do different jobs from one street to the next.

None of that changes the installed price of the turf itself. It changes who signs the approval, how far the edge sits from a pond, and whether the crew is coordinating around a family's routine or a property manager's turnover window. Every service we offer shows up somewhere in Reunion, from full lawns to putting surfaces, but the sections below explain the parts specific to this community.

Reunion yard types and what we do differently
Yard type	What's different here	What we adjust on the job
Golf-front lot backing a fairway or pond	Visible from the course; often close to the state's 10-foot waterbody setback	Confirm the waterline first, keep the color and nap natural rather than sports-field green
Gated villa or townhome, zero-lot-line	Small footprint, shared sidewalk frontage, tight side-yard access	Hand-carried base material, narrower compaction passes, careful protection of shared walks
Managed short-term rental home	No owner on site; the yard has to survive back-to-back guest turnovers	Heavier face weight on paths to the pool gate, a rinse routine the cleaning crew can follow
Owner-occupied single-family home	Standard architectural review timeline, established landscaping already in place	Coordinate the base grade with existing beds and irrigation zones before demo starts
Pool cage or screened lanai	Turf sits on a concrete slab inside screening, not on open ground	Drainage underlay under the slab section, glued rather than staked perimeter

Categories describe common Reunion lot conditions; a given address can fall into more than one.

Who signs off on a Reunion turf project

Reunion sits in unincorporated Osceola County, so the county's Building Department is the government office of record for any permit question, reachable through Osceola County's permit page at 407-742-0200. Florida's statewide turf standard, HB 683 and the DEP turf standard, has applied since May 19, 2026 to any single-family lot of an acre or less, and it sets the floor for infill, drainage, tree setbacks and pond buffers no matter which Reunion street the lot sits on.

That state floor doesn't reach the association layer. A resort property owners association reviews the look of a change through an architectural process separate from the county, and what a Florida HOA can and can't restrict under Florida law: a fenced backyard not visible from the street or an adjoining lot gets more protection than a front yard does. Bring the HOA and ARC packet checklist to that submittal so the plan, photos and product sheet arrive in the order a reviewer expects the first time.

The three courses, and what a lot backing one of them means

Reunion Resort's own site lists three signature 18-hole, par-72 courses on the property: an Arnold Palmer design running 6,916 yards with elevation changes up to 50 feet, a Tom Watson layout at 7,154 yards that opened in 2004, and a Jack Nicklaus course stretching 7,219 yards (reunionresort.com/golf/courses).

Fairways this size come with lakes and ponds threaded through them, and Florida's synthetic-turf standard keeps a compliant lawn at least 10 feet from a natural or man-made waterbody unless a seawall or bulkhead separates the two. On a lot backing one of the three courses, that setback line usually matters more to the design than any single product choice, because it decides how close to the water the turf can actually run.

Two districts, one association: who actually reviews what

Reunion East Community Development District and Reunion West Community Development District are units of local government under Chapter 190, Florida Statutes, not homeowners associations. Reunion East covers roughly 1,279 acres and Reunion West about 930 acres, both created by Osceola County's Board of County Commissioners on October 3, 2001, and each runs on a Board of Supervisors elected by the landowners inside it (reunioneastcdd.com) (osceola.org). The districts finance and maintain the roads, entry gatehouses, street lighting, bridges and stormwater ponds shared across the resort.

A resort property owners association runs the architectural side: paint colors, fences, sheds and landscaping changes go through its review process before work starts (reunionwestpoa.com). Because Reunion Resort & Club of Orlando was approved as a Development of Regional Impact back in 1992 on about 2,226 acres, with buildout tracked by the county through 2031, some interior streets have been through several rounds of landscaping since the first homes closed, while newer sections are still filling in (osceola.org).

Water, ponds and what the state rule changed

Toho Water Authority supplies water and sewer to most of unincorporated Osceola County, Reunion included, though a handful of condo-style sections such as the Villas at Reunion Square and Seven Eagles fold the utility charge into the monthly association fee instead of billing owners directly (reunionrealty.com). Reunion's homes also fall on Toho's two-day irrigation schedule, split by odd and even street address, with no daytime watering allowed Toho's watering schedule.

Once a lawn goes synthetic, that irrigation schedule stops applying to it, because the state's turf standard bars watering a compliant system from an in-ground line and lets a jurisdiction require the old heads capped the state's turf standard. Osceola County was separately weighing a countywide water-conservation ordinance in 2026 aimed at the groundwater supply, which affects whatever grass and beds stay around a turf lawn's edges, not the turf itself a 2026 county water proposal.

Rentals, the STR overlay and who lives behind the gate

Osceola County zones short-term rental use through a Short Term Rental Planned Development designation, and the county's own overlay map is the way to confirm a specific parcel's status rather than guessing from the address (osceola.org), with the county's Planning, Zoning and Design Department answering questions at the same 407-742-0200 line as building permits. A large share of Reunion's houses run as professionally managed vacation rentals, though condo-style sections and some single-family streets are held as primary residences, and that split shapes whether a turf conversation happens with an owner who lives there or a manager who doesn't.

"What's the best artificial turf contractor near me in Reunion?" is a common way homeowners here start the search, and the honest answer turns on three things: who reviews the plan, how close the nearest pond or fairway sits, and what the yard needs to look like between one guest group and the next. Those answers differ by street more than they differ by product.

Ground under the golf courses versus ground under the house

Osceola County's soil survey maps most of the flat land around Kissimmee and Four Corners as poorly drained sandy series such as Immokalee, Basinger, Myakka and Smyrna, with a water table that sits close to the surface for part of the year the county soil survey (1979 county survey). A finished lot inside Reunion rarely shows that native profile untouched, since the fairways alone carry engineered elevation changes of up to 50 feet, and the pads under nearby homes were graded and compacted well beyond what natural flatwoods soil looks like on its own.

What that means on the ground: a base built with washed, open-graded crushed rock or crushed concrete still has to be confirmed against the actual grade at each address rather than assumed from the county-wide soil map, and any mature oak on an older interior lot keeps its protected drip line regardless of how the surrounding fill was placed.

Turf services in Reunion

Questions people ask

Who approves artificial turf in Reunion: the CDD, the POA or the county?

All three can touch a project, but for different reasons. Osceola County's Building Department handles any permit question because Reunion is unincorporated county land. The community development districts govern shared infrastructure, not individual lots. The resort property owners association reviews the look of the change on your specific parcel.

Does the state's May 2026 turf rule override Reunion's association review?

No. Rule 62-308.100 stops a city or county from banning compliant turf on a covered single-family lot, but it doesn't reach private association review. A resort association can still ask for a plan, photos and a product sample before work starts.

Is my Reunion address inside the short-term rental overlay?

Check the parcel against Osceola County's own STR overlay map rather than assuming from the street name, since the boundary follows zoning lines, not the resort's marketing footprint. The Planning, Zoning and Design Department can confirm a specific address at 407-742-0200.

How close to a Reunion golf-course pond can turf go?

The state standard sets a 10-foot setback from the ordinary or mean high water line of a natural or constructed waterbody, seawalls excepted, and bars installing inside a pond's littoral zone. A lot backing a lake on any of the three courses should have that line confirmed before a layout is drawn.

Do I need a permit to cap irrigation heads before installing turf?

Possibly. The state standard requires capping any in-ground head that would otherwise water synthetic turf, and depending on the scope that plumbing step can need its own permit from Osceola County even when the turf itself doesn't.

Are Reunion's water and sewer bills separate from the HOA?

Usually, yes, through Toho Water Authority. A few condo-style sections bundle the utility charge into the monthly association fee instead, so check your specific building or section before assuming either way.

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