What the recorded documents actually say about Concord Grandview in Elkhart — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
7 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
These answers were read from the complete scanned record on file rather than from a shortened copy, because the shortened copy left out about a tenth of the main document. They cover Concord Grandview, Section One, a 44-lot subdivision in Concord Township, Elkhart County. The rules come from the March 2015 restatement of the protective restrictions, recorded in Elkhart County as Document 2015-04133, together with all three later amendment sets, recorded as 2016-12878, 2017-13348 and 2021-12787. The original 2004 covenants are also in the county file but have been superseded by the 2015 restatement. One thing to watch when you get your own copy: a version circulating with listings here stops at the 2017 amendment and does not include the 2021 solar provision, so a packet handed to you may be missing rules that are in force. Several restrictions apply only to the pond lots, numbered 31 through 44, so check your lot number before relying on the shed, detached-building and pond answers. Nothing here covers a later section or phase. These covenants can be amended by a vote of fifty-one percent of the owners, and the dollar cap on dues was removed in 2017, so confirm the current recorded version and this year's dues with the association or your title company before you rely on any of it.
Fencing is limited to two kinds. A color-coated chain-link fence may not exceed four feet high, and a privacy fence is allowed only around an immediate patio and may not exceed six feet high. Either one has to match the architectural standards set by the style of home built and must be approved in writing by the Concord Grandview Architectural Control Committee, and the committee also has to approve the dimensions and exact position of any fence. The committee can grant a written variance from the fence requirement. A separate sight-distance rule bars any fence, wall, hedge or shrub that blocks sight lines between two and six feet above the roadway on a corner lot, within the triangle formed by the street lines and a line joining them twenty-five feet from the intersection, and within ten feet of where a driveway meets a street line.
A detached pet shelter, play house, accessory building, play structure or swimming-pool equipment structure has to be of quality construction, kept in attractive and neat condition, blend with the established home, and be submitted to the architectural control committee for approval before construction begins. The committee can require protective screening around it. There is one flat exception, and it turns on your lot number: on the pond lots, numbered 31 through 44, no accessory building, exterior building, detached garage, shed or any other structure is allowed at all, which the document ties to preserving pond visibility and the one forty-fourth pond interest each lot carries. A separate rule bars using a trailer, tent, shack, carport, garage, bar or other outbuilding as a residence at any time.
The recreational-vehicle paragraph names campers, trailers, trucks, ATVs, boats and snowmobiles, and says none of them may be kept in open areas in the subdivision, whether those open areas are on or off an owner's lot. The document never defines what counts as an open area, and that sentence says nothing either way about a garage. The sentences that follow in the same paragraph are about vehicles generally: none may be parked, kept, stored or otherwise maintained on any street or lawn area, none may be parked on a street between 2:00 am and 6:00 am, and anything parked overnight has to be entirely within a garage or driveway. So the ban is written against open areas, and the document does not spell out whether a camper or boat closed inside a garage is reached by it. If you are buying with a camper, a boat or a trailer, that is the question to put to the association in writing before closing.
Above-ground pools are not permitted. An in-ground pool may not be built or installed on any lot until the plans and specifications for it have been approved by the architectural control committee. A structure built to house swimming-pool equipment falls under the detached-buildings rule, which also requires committee approval before construction starts and lets the committee require screening around it, and on the pond lots numbered 31 through 44 no such structure is allowed. Any additional lighting fixtures for a pool or similar facility have to be presented to and approved by the committee as well.
Nothing may be erected, constructed, placed, maintained or altered on a lot without the architectural control committee's approval, and that reaches changes to the natural topography as well as buildings. Plans have to show the floor plan, the quality of construction materials, the outside colors, how the external design sits with existing structures, and the location relative to lot boundaries, topography and finish grade. Two complete sets go in; the committee keeps one and returns one. Approval or disapproval comes in writing, and a denial has to state its reasons. Pavement of any kind needs approval, including parking and recreational surfaces. Before any clearing, digging or erecting, the committee is to be notified and given twenty-one days to review, and it may extend that period. The committee has five members appointed annually by the association. Chimneys are separately required to be masonry or exterior masonry veneer and maintained that way.
Outside above-ground television, AM, FM and short-wave radio antennas of any type are not allowed on any lot or structure. Eighteen-inch satellite dishes are allowed, on the condition that the dish is not conspicuously visible from the street or from adjacent homes. A later lettered item in the same paragraph adds that any dish, or any external antenna otherwise described, requires architectural control committee approval. All public utility service, including cable television, is required to run underground and not be visible. Federal rules on antenna placement can limit how far a private covenant like this one is enforceable, so this is worth raising with the association and your attorney if a dish matters to you.
Solar is governed by a provision added in 2021, and it is detailed. No solar panel or other alternative energy source may be placed or kept on any property unless approved in advance by the architectural control committee, and each request is evaluated case by case on the home and lot location, the size, location and number of panels, and the anticipated aesthetic impact. The stated guidelines: roof-mounted panels are allowed as long as they are not visible from the street and sit less than 12 inches above the roof; motorized sun-tracking systems are allowed; system capacity is limited to 0.8 kilowatts per 200 square feet of home, which the document says reflects current technology and may change, though a worked example further down the same provision uses 0.768 kilowatts per 200 square feet; panel housing must be kept free of visible mold or rust; non-panel surfaces should be painted to cut reflection; land-mounted panels may be allowed as the technology advances; and lithium-ion storage batteries need containment to prevent groundwater contamination, rated UL9540. Wind, hydro and other alternative energy systems are stated as not approvable.
Every lot has to be kept in good orderly condition with landscaping in keeping with the pattern established in the subdivision, and no lot may be overgrown or weed infested. The requirement buyers most often miss here is the irrigation one: every lot must have an underground irrigation system capable of adequately watering all cultivated areas, kept in good working order and run enough to maintain proper growing conditions. That system may not draw from the pond. Yards have to be planted with grass, sod or ground cover within 120 days of the structure being completed or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the committee approves otherwise, and on wooded lots the area between the tree line and the curb must be planted and kept neat. Screen planting between the building setback line and the front lot line may not exceed seventy-two inches high. Vacant lots must be kept free of rubbish and weeds with grass at a reasonable length, and after ten days' notice to cure, the developer may do the work at the owner's cost.
A mailbox goes in front of each home, placed for easy access to the mail and landscaped to look attractive. It has to be of similar design and materials to match the home, and it must carry the house numbers on both sides.
Dogs, cats and other household pets may be kept, provided they are not kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose and are not allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard. Read the rest of that paragraph before you count on it: no vicious or attack-trained dog may be kept at any time on any lot, no pet may roam free off its owner's lot, and boarding or housing more than three pets of the same kind is forbidden. Livestock and poultry of any kind may not be raised, bred or kept. The nuisance paragraph names barking dogs specifically, and a 2016 amendment set out how a nuisance complaint is handled: a written complaint goes to the association, the board or its committee decides whether it has merit and is the final authority on what counts as a nuisance, and a continuing violation draws a written warning first and a referral to legal counsel second. A separate 2016 provision prohibits owners and visitors from feeding geese, ducks, swans or other waterfowl, while allowing the feeding of songbirds and other small insect-eating birds.
Renting out a home here is not free of the association. No lease of a dwelling unit may be entered into without the association's prior approval, and an approved lease may not run longer than one year. The documents do not describe how approval is requested, what standards the association applies, or how long a decision takes, so anyone buying to rent should get that process in writing from the association before closing. A separate line under the completion-dates paragraph states that no temporary buildings or rentals of any sort are permitted at any time; it sits among provisions about the building period, and the document does not say whether it is meant to be limited to that period.
The documents do not use the word hoop, and they do not address a portable or driveway basketball goal either way. What they do address is a basketball court: permanent or paved recreational and athletic facilities, with tennis, basketball and volleyball courts named as examples, may not be erected, built or installed on any lot until the plans and specifications have been approved by the architectural control committee. A separate line in the architectural paragraph requires approval for pavement of any kind, including pavement for recreational use, and additional lighting fixtures for such a facility also need committee approval. Whether a freestanding portable goal falls inside or outside that language is not settled by the text, so it is worth asking the association.
No sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a lot, with stated exceptions: one sign of not more than five square feet advertising the property for sale, and signs of any dimension used by a builder to advertise the property for sale or during the construction and sales period. The architectural control committee reserves the right to put up signs of its own to promote the association. The document does not separately address political, security or contractor signs, and state or federal law can affect how far a sign restriction reaches, so check with the association on anything outside the for-sale exception.
Parking is one of the more specific sections here. No motor vehicle of any kind may be parked, kept, stored or otherwise maintained on any street or lawn area, and no vehicle may be parked on a street between 2:00 am and 6:00 am. Anything parked overnight has to be located entirely within a garage or driveway. The nuisance paragraph adds that no vehicles or trailers are permitted off pavement other than lawn maintenance equipment. Driveways themselves are regulated: stone and cinder driveways are not permitted, a driveway has to be concrete at least four inches thick and a minimum of twelve feet wide, and a circular drive in front of a home has to be at least eight feet wide. Each home is also required to have a private garage for not more or less than three cars, unless the architectural control committee unanimously approves an exception in writing.
The paragraph headed Home Occupations limits what a lot may be used for: no lot may be used for any purpose other than as a single-family residence. The dwelling paragraph is written the same way, allowing only a single-family dwelling of no more than two and a half stories plus a private garage. The document does not define home occupation any further, and it does not separately address an office or desk job inside the home that brings no customers, employees, signage or traffic to the lot. Read on its face, the restriction is on using the property for a non-residential purpose, so anyone planning to run a business from the home would do well to describe it to the association in writing and get an answer before closing.
The documents never use the words short-term, vacation or nightly rental, and they set no minimum stay. What governs is the lease paragraph, and on its face it reaches a short stay as much as a long one: no lease of a dwelling unit may be entered into without the association's prior approval, and an approved lease may not run more than one year. So the ceiling in these covenants is on length, while the gate is the association's approval. A separate line under the completion-dates paragraph says no temporary buildings or rentals of any sort are permitted at any time, which reads more broadly, though it sits among provisions about the building period and the document does not say how far it is meant to carry. If short-term renting is part of why you are buying, get the association's written position before closing rather than reading those two lines against each other.
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 →No lot, land or pond may be used or kept as a dumping ground for rubbish, grass clippings, leaves, tree limbs or compost. Trash, garbage and other waste may not be kept except in sanitary containers, and all equipment for storing or disposing of it has to be kept clean and sanitary. Burning waste is separately prohibited, covering trash, refuse, building materials, leaves, tree limbs, grass clippings and debris. Trash pickup is coordinated rather than left to each owner: it is all completed on one specified day of the week, chosen by majority vote of those present at association meetings. While a home is under construction, debris has to be contained so it does not litter neighboring property, and if it becomes a general nuisance the board may elect to clean it up at the lot owner's cost.
This is one of the few covenants in the county that addresses cooking fire directly. The paragraph first prohibits open burning on any lot, whether in incinerators, containers or otherwise, aimed at trash, waste, refuse, building materials, leaves, tree limbs, grass clippings and debris. Then it carves out an express permission: a homeowner may have a campfire or barbecue pit up to four feet in diameter, burning clean wood or charcoal, provided it does not present a fire hazard or a smoke nuisance to any property. The pit has to be in the backyard of the lot and positioned at least twenty feet from any adjoining lot. The document does not separately mention a gas grill or a portable charcoal grill, so the four-foot pit language is what it actually gives you.
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.