What the recorded documents actually say about AmberWood Hills in Bristol — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
9 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
Where these answers come from, and what they cover. Every answer on this page is read from a single recorded document: the Declaration of Restrictions for AmberWood Hills, executed October 24, 1978 and filed for record with the Elkhart County Recorder on October 27, 1978 as instrument 658358, entered in the county records at Volume 122, pages 743 through 749. It runs seven pages and carries twenty numbered restrictions, signed on behalf of the developer partnership and notarized, with the Recorder's filing stamp on its first page.
What it covers. The declaration applies to the land described in its own Exhibit A, which is three tracts in Jefferson Township, Elkhart County totalling roughly forty-four acres: about 21.5 acres in Section 9, 20 acres in Section 4, and about 2.65 acres in Section 5, all in Township 37 North, Range 6 East. That is the ground the document says was being subdivided into a recorded plat to be known as AmberWood Hills. The declaration describes that ground by survey lines rather than by lot numbers, so it states no lot range an address can be checked against, and the recorded plat itself is not part of the copy on file here.
What is not covered. No amendment, no restated declaration and no separate section or phase document for this neighborhood turned up in the county records gathered for this page, and these twenty restrictions are the whole of what was recorded in 1978. If ground was later added to the subdivision under its own recording, the rules on it can differ from what is written here. Before relying on any answer on this page, a buyer can ask their title company or the Elkhart County Recorder for a covenant search on the specific parcel, which would also pick up any later instrument changing these covenants under the renewal paragraph.
Two gaps worth naming plainly. The document creates no homeowners association and sets no dues, so there may be no office to call for an answer it does not give. And a recorded covenant is not the only rule a house is subject to: Elkhart County and local zoning can restrict things this 1978 document is silent on.
Fences are addressed directly and in some detail. Forward of the rear building line of the main house, the only fence the document permits is a decorative one, and chain link or wire fence in that forward area is specifically forbidden. Anywhere on the lot, no fence may stand more than four feet above the established grade unless it is approved under both the architectural review paragraph and the accessory-building paragraph, which together mean plans to the Architectural Control Committee and the written consent of the adjacent property owners. The document does not name permitted materials behind the rear building line and sets no separate rear-yard height, so a taller privacy fence appears to need that approval. Worth confirming with the county and the town as well, since local zoning can impose its own fence limits on top of this.
A shed is permitted, but the approval path is unusual and worth understanding before buying. Storage sheds, garden sheds, pool or bath houses and other accessory buildings need the written consent of the adjacent property owners, and the Architectural Control Committee must also give written consent for any type of outbuilding. The same adjacent-owner consent is required for an addition to a garage, or for a new garage built after the original house is finished. The consent is meant to take the form of a letter signed by the neighbors and recorded in Elkhart County's miscellaneous records, which is a higher bar than a verbal yes. The structure must be of high quality, built in a workmanlike manner, and kept up that way. Note too that the thirty-day rule elsewhere in the document, under which committee silence counts as approval, is written so that it does not extend to this paragraph. The document sets no size, height or setback limit for a shed and names no materials.
A camper or boat is allowed here, but only in named places. The document defines major recreational equipment broadly, to include boats and boat trailers, travel trailers, pickup campers or coaches, motorized dwellings, tent trailers and the like, plus the cases or boxes used to transport recreational equipment whether loaded or empty. Any of that may be kept on a lot in a carport, in an enclosed building, or behind the nearest portion of a building where it is not visible from public highways. Outside those spots it may sit anywhere on the property for up to twenty-four hours while being loaded or unloaded. Separately, none of it may be used for living, sleeping or housekeeping while parked or stored on a lot or anywhere else in the subdivision, so a guest camper is not a guest room. An open driveway in view of the road is not one of the permitted locations.
Pools appear inside the accessory-building paragraph rather than in one of their own. What that paragraph names is enclosed swimming pools, along with pool or bath houses, and it permits them only with the written consent of the adjacent property owners, with the Architectural Control Committee's written consent also required for any type of outbuilding. The consent is meant to be a letter signed by the neighbors and recorded in the county's miscellaneous records. The document never separately addresses an uncovered in-ground or above-ground pool and never defines what makes a pool enclosed, so whether an open pool falls inside this paragraph is unsettled on the face of the wording. It also sets no pool fencing or safety requirement, which Indiana building code and the county may cover independently. Anyone planning a pool here may want both the neighbors' written consent and a county permit answer before committing.
Architectural review applies before any building is erected, placed or altered. Plans, specifications and a site plan showing where the structure will sit go to a three-member Architectural Control Committee, which reviews quality of workmanship, materials, how the exterior design sits with the houses already there, and placement against the topography and finish grade. The committee's answer must be in writing within thirty days of submission. If it neither approves nor disapproves in that window, and does not sue to stop the work before the work is finished, approval is treated as given and the related covenants as satisfied, with the accessory-building paragraph expressly carved out of that automatic approval. A majority of the committee may appoint someone to act for it, and a majority of the then-recorded lot owners may change who sits on the committee and what powers it has by recording an instrument, so whoever reviews a plan today may not be who was named in 1978. The document also caps the house itself at two and a half stories with a private garage for no more than three cars, and sets minimum floor areas of 2,000 square feet for a one-story dwelling and 1,400 square feet for a dwelling of more than one story, in each case excluding one-story open porches and garages.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →There is no general landscaping or lawn-appearance standard, but there is a real restriction on the strip between the front lot line and the edge of the street. No grading, planting, sodding or surface covering may go there if it reduces or impedes the storm drainage that the street's original elevations and inclines were built to carry, for that property or a neighbor's. Each owner is also made responsible for maintaining the surface drainage system installed on their own lot. The teeth are unusual for a document of this age: an owner who alters the drainage can be held personally liable for the resulting damage, and both the subdivider and the county are given the right to remove the alteration and to maintain the drainage system at the expense of owners who altered it or failed to maintain it. The same restriction is applied to all surface drainage systems and retention areas shown on the original plats. Nothing in the document addresses tree removal, garden beds, planting lists or grass height elsewhere on the lot.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Read this paragraph to the end, because it opens and closes in different places. It begins by barring animals and poultry from being kept or housed on the land, and bars commercial activity involving poultry, fowl, domestic animals or livestock. It then expressly permits personal pets on two conditions: the pet is confined to the owner's premises, or it is on a leash when off them. Letting a pet leave the property unleashed is called out as strictly forbidden. There is also a numeric cap, which is the part most buyers miss: boarding or housing more than two pets of the same kind is strictly forbidden, so three dogs would run into it while two dogs and two cats would not on the face of that wording. The document names no breed restriction, no weight or size limit, and no rule about kennels, runs or outdoor housing beyond the general accessory-building approval. Livestock, chickens and other poultry are the clear target of the opening sentence.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Signs are restricted tightly, with three named exceptions. The rule is that no sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a lot, except one professional sign of no more than one square foot, one sign of no more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or for rent, and signs used by the builder or architect to advertise during the construction and sales period. A standard real estate yard sign fits inside the five-square-foot allowance. Because the opening words reach any sign of any kind, a political, sports or seasonal sign has no named exception to sit in. The document does not say whether a flag counts as a sign, and it never uses the word, so that edge is unresolved on the face of the wording. Note also that the for-sale-or-rent allowance is the only place renting is mentioned anywhere in the document.
Everyday parking of licensed, road-legal vehicles is not restricted anywhere in this document. What is restricted is the unlicensed end of it: an automotive vehicle or trailer of any kind, or parts of one, whether it runs or not, may not be parked or stored on a lot without current license plates unless it is inside a completely enclosed building. A project car with expired plates sitting in the driveway is the situation that reaches. A second paragraph adds to the same picture by defining waste to include automotive and other mechanical parts not in use on the premises, and restricting storage of those to inside the house or to enclosed accessory buildings such as garages, garden sheds and storage buildings, with exterior storage specifically forbidden. Campers, boats and trailers have their own separate rule. The document says nothing about how many cars may sit on a driveway, about on-street parking, or about commercial or work trucks as such.
Two separate sentences point against running a business from a home here. The first restriction in the document limits the use of a lot to residential purposes. A later paragraph, the one dealing with animals, also says no commercial activity of any kind is permitted, giving the sale or purchase of poultry, fowl, domestic animals or livestock as examples rather than as the whole of it. Neither sentence defines what counts as a residential purpose or where a business begins, and the document sets up no approval path and no exception for a home occupation. Pulling the other way, the sign paragraph does allow one professional sign of up to one square foot on a lot, which suggests a professional working from home was at least contemplated when this was written in 1978. Those two readings are not reconciled anywhere in the document. A buyer who needs to run a business from the house, see clients there, or park work vehicles should treat this as a question for a real estate attorney and for county zoning rather than as settled.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Trash is handled in one of the longer paragraphs. No lot may be kept as a dumping ground, trash and garbage must be kept only in sanitary containers, and the containers and any equipment for storing or disposing of waste must be kept clean and sanitary and placed either within the premises or somewhere not visible from public highways. The paragraph then defines waste far more broadly than a household would, to include discarded furniture, appliances, building materials, tools, toys, automotive and other mechanical parts, and other household fixtures and equipment or parts not in use on the premises. Storage of any of that is restricted to inside the main house or inside enclosed accessory buildings such as garages, garden sheds and storage buildings, and exterior storage is specifically forbidden. There is no named pickup day and no rule about when containers may go to the curb.
The document never names grills, barbecues, fire pits or outdoor fireplaces either way, so nothing here speaks to cooking directly. What it does have is a burning paragraph, and its reach is specific: it bars burning household trash or garbage, indoors or out, whether or not an incinerator is used. On the face of that wording a charcoal or gas grill, which burns fuel rather than household waste, is not what the sentence addresses. Burning leaves, brush or yard waste is not named either, though county and town open-burning rules can apply on their own regardless of what a covenant says. A homeowner who wants certainty about a permanent outdoor fireplace or a built-in grill structure should also look at the architectural approval paragraph, since a built structure can bring that into play.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.