What the recorded documents actually say about Darden Crossings in South Bend — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
3 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 come from one document: the Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations and Easments for Darden Crossings, executed in September 2000 by the developer, Place Realty Inc. It is the only covenant document in the file, and no amendment, restatement or later board rule appears anywhere in it. It covers all twenty lots of the subdivision, which its own Exhibit A identifies as Lots 1 through 20 in the plat recorded in St. Joseph County on December 8, 2000.
One thing to understand about the copy itself. It is not a recorder's certified copy but a reprint produced by a title search service in March 2009, and the covenant text runs from what that reprint numbers as its page 2 through page 11. Its page 1, which on this kind of reprint is normally a search cover sheet rather than part of the recorded instrument, is not in the file. The covenant text is complete, opening with its title block and paragraph 1 and running unbroken through paragraph 37 and Exhibit A with no gap in the numbering. There is no recorder's date stamp visible on the copy; the reprint identifies the instrument only as document RES 2000.57142.
It is also a scan of paper with no digital text, so it was read by optical character recognition and individual words can be misread. The clauses behind the recreational vehicle, satellite dish and fire answers were read again directly off the page images rather than from the converted text.
Two things in the document will matter more to a buyer than any single rule. First, the architectural control committee has unusually wide power here. Its approval is required in writing before any structure is built, placed, maintained or altered, and before the natural topography or drainage of a lot is changed, and the document says its decision is entirely within its discretion. Its authority was written to expire twenty years after the plat was recorded, which points at late 2020, and the file does not show whether the association took over appointing its members or whether that authority was extended. Second, the document is twenty-five years old and the assessment ceiling it sets, one hundred dollars per lot per year, can be raised by the owners of seventy-five percent of the lots. Ask the association what it charges now.
Before you rely on any of this for a specific house, order a current title commitment and have the title company or the Recorder search for anything recorded after 2000, and ask the association in writing for its current rules, the current assessment, and the status of the architectural control committee.
Fencing is tightly limited here, and the limit is unusual enough to read carefully. The document says there will be no perimeter fencing at all. What is allowed is privacy fencing around an immediate patio or pool, no more than six feet, which must conform to the architectural standards set by the style of the home and must be approved in writing by the architectural control committee, unless the committee approves a written variance from the fence requirement. Separately, no fence, wall, hedge or shrub planting may obstruct sight lines between two and six feet above the roadway inside the corner triangle formed by the street property lines and a line joining them twenty-five feet from the intersection, and the same limit applies within ten feet of where a driveway meets the street. No screen planting over thirty-six inches high is permitted between the building setback line and the front lot line on any lot. So plan on a patio or pool enclosure submitted for written approval rather than a fenced yard.
A detached shed is contemplated and allowed, with approval first. The document says the construction and placement of any detached storage or pet shelter structure, for lawn tools, toys, swimming pool apparatus, other personal property or shelter of pets, must be of quality construction, must be maintained in an attractive and neat appearance, must blend with the established home, and must be submitted to the architectural control committee for approval before construction begins. The committee may also require protective screening around the structure. No size, height or material limit is given, which means the standard is the committee's judgment rather than a number. A separate paragraph bars any trailer, modular home, manufactured home, pre-built home, tent, shack, barn, outbuilding or temporary structure from being moved onto or built on a lot and used as a residence.
The clause bars these vehicles from open areas and stops there. It says no recreational or commercial vehicles, naming campers, trailers, trucks and boats, may be kept in open areas in this subdivision, whether those open areas are on or off a lot owner's lot. Two things it does not do are worth as much as what it does. It never defines what counts as an open area, and it never mentions a garage in either direction, so a camper kept entirely inside a closed garage is genuinely not addressed by the document. Read plainly, it stops you keeping a camper or a boat sitting out on the lot or on the street, and it leaves the enclosed case open rather than permitting it. Separately, the parking paragraph requires garages and parking to be positioned so that cars and garage doors are not readily visible from the street and are effectively screened from other lots, and bars parking on the grass or landscaped part of a lot. If this is the question that decides the house for you, get the association's written answer on the garage before you buy.
In-ground is possible, above-ground is not. The document says no above ground pools are permitted, and that in-ground pools and tennis courts are permitted with the prior approval of the architectural control committee. Approval has to come before the work starts, and the general architectural paragraph also requires committee approval before the natural topography or drainage of a lot is altered, which a pool excavation usually involves. The fencing paragraph allows privacy fencing of no more than six feet around an immediate patio or pool, again with written committee approval.
Approval first, in writing, and the committee's discretion is broad. No building or other structure may be erected, constructed, placed, maintained or altered on a lot, and the natural topography or drainage of a lot may not be altered, until the plans have been approved by the architectural control committee. The plans must show the floor plan, quality of construction, materials, exterior colors, harmony of external design with existing structures, and location with respect to lot lines, topography and finish grade elevations. Two complete sets must be submitted, one kept at the developer's office and one returned. Approval or disapproval is in writing, nothing that does not fully comply with the approved plans may be built, and no change from approved plans may be made without the committee's prior written consent. The document says the committee's decision is entirely within its discretion, and it sets no deadline for the committee to answer. The committee's authority was written to expire twenty years after the plat was recorded, which points at late 2020, so ask the association who reviews plans now. Front exteriors must be brick, wood, stone or vinyl siding with a brick, wood or stone front subject to committee approval, front walks must be brick or cement, and roof shingles must be the fiberglass type.
The document is flat on this one. It says no outside above-ground television, AM, FM or short wave radio antenna of any type, including but not limited to any type of satellite dish antenna, may be erected or maintained on any lot or structure in the subdivision. There is no size carve-out, no screened-location exception and no approval route, which is stricter than most neighborhoods of this age, where a small dish is usually permitted. The same paragraph requires all utility service, including cable television, to run underground and out of sight. This is a 2000 document, so if a dish is how you intend to get service, ask the association what it actually enforces today and get the answer in writing before you buy.
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 more here than in most covenants, and some of it binds after you move in. Yards must be planted with grass seed, sod or ground cover on the side, front and rear within one hundred twenty days after the house is finished or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the architectural control committee approves otherwise. Tree removal is restricted across the whole lot: no live tree more than four inches in diameter measured twelve inches above the ground, no flowering tree such as dogwood or redbud, no broadleaf evergreen, and no live vegetation on a slope steeper than twenty percent may be cut without the committee's prior approval, and no live tree of any size within ten feet of the lot perimeter may be cut without it either. Where the plat marks a protective screening area as a non-access easement, the owners of those lots must keep the plantings there at their own expense so they form an effective screen. No screen planting over thirty-six inches high is permitted between the building setback line and the front lot line. Owners also carry the cost of restoring paved or planted areas disturbed by work on the underground utilities. The association itself maintains the park areas and the landscaped entrance ways, not your yard.
The mailbox is specified. Every lot must have a mailbox built and kept in good condition and repair at all times, and it has to conform to the design criteria set by the architectural control committee. The document does not print the design itself, so the specification lives with the committee or the association rather than in the recorded covenants. If you are replacing one, ask for the current criteria first.
Ordinary household pets are allowed, with two conditions. The document says no animals, livestock or poultry of any kind may be raised, bred or kept on a lot, except that dogs, cats or other household pets may be kept, provided they are not kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose and are not permitted to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard in any manner. There is no limit on the number of pets and no size or breed restriction anywhere in the document. A separate paragraph covers pet shelter structures: a detached shelter needs the architectural control committee's approval before it is built, and the committee may require screening around it.
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 →The document never mentions a basketball goal, a backboard or play equipment anywhere. What it does have is a broad approval requirement: no building or other structure may be erected, constructed, placed, maintained or altered on a lot until the plans have been approved by the architectural control committee, and the committee's decision is described as entirely within its discretion. A permanently installed pole and backboard is the kind of thing that wording tends to reach, while a portable goal rolled onto the driveway is less clearly covered. Since the document does not draw that line itself, ask the committee or the association before installing a permanent one.
This paragraph is stricter than most and it catches the for sale sign. The document says no sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on any lot, and it expressly includes signs advertising the property for sale or rent and builder signs of any dimension during the construction and sales period, unless prior written approval is given by the developer. So there is an approval route rather than a flat ban, but a sign of any kind without that approval is a violation. The developer also reserved the right to put up whatever signs it wants to promote and sell lots. Since the developer's role has long since passed, ask the association who grants that approval now, and plan on asking before a sign goes in the yard.
Where a vehicle sits is governed in some detail. Every dwelling must have a full-size attached garage able to hold at least two cars but not more than three. Garages and parking must be placed so that no cars or garage doors are readily visible from the street and are effectively screened from any other lot, with an exception tied to the garage paragraph for the non-side-load garages the committee approves in some cases. No vehicle may be parked on the grass or landscaped part of a lot at any time, and no vehicle may be parked on a regular, recurrent or permanent basis on any right-of-way, which reaches habitual street parking. Separately, recreational and commercial vehicles may not be kept in open areas in the subdivision.
This document actually defines a home occupation, which most do not. Lots are for single-family residential use, except that a home occupation may be permitted if it is conducted entirely within the dwelling, is carried on solely by a member of the immediate family living there, and is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the house as a home without changing its character. Four conditions come with it: no sign or display indicating from the outside that the building is used for anything but a dwelling, no commodity sold on the premises, nobody employed other than an immediate family member living there, and no mechanical or electrical equipment used. The document then names businesses that can never qualify: a barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlor, tea room, fortune-telling parlor, animal hospital, or any form of animal care or treatment such as dog trimming. City zoning applies on top of this, so check both.
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 →No lot may be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish, trash, garbage or other waste may not be kept except in sanitary containers, and any incinerator or other equipment for storing or disposing of that material must be kept in a clean sanitary condition. The document does not say where containers must be stored or screened, and it does not set a day or time for putting them out. The association is separately given authority to enforce the restrictions concerning accumulations of rubbish, weeds or trash, so this is a rule it can act on.
The document has a fires paragraph, and it reaches streets rather than yards. It says no fire may be permitted to burn on any street or roadway in the subdivision. It says nothing at all about a fire on a lot, and it never names a grill, a barbecue, a fire pit or a fire bowl in either direction. On the face of that wording a contained cooking grill on your own patio is not what the paragraph is aimed at, and a fire in the street is. The general nuisance paragraph, which bars anything done on a lot that may become an annoyance or nuisance in the neighborhood, is the clause most likely to be raised if smoke becomes a problem. If you plan to install something permanent such as a built-in grill or fire pit, the architectural approval paragraph is likely to apply, so ask first.
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.