What the recorded documents actually say about Eddy Street Commons in South Bend — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
20 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
Read this before anything above, because Eddy Street Commons is layered and no single document answers everything.
These answers come from the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions Residential Areas, made by the University of Notre Dame du Lac, effective May 20, 2008 and recorded May 23, 2008 as instrument 0817399, as amended and restated by the Corrective Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions Residential Areas recorded January 5, 2009 as instrument 0900196. That is the instrument that reaches every home in the residential part of Eddy Street Commons, which is why it was used here. It runs with the land in perpetuity.
It is not the only thing that governs your home. Each residential development inside Eddy Street Commons has its own recorded declaration and its own association, and those are where the everyday rules live. Three of them are on file here: the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for Champions Way Cityhomes, recorded September 17, 2010; the Declaration of Legends Row Condominiums, instrument 1114956, recorded June 9, 2011; and the Declaration of Victory View Condominiums, made June 2014. A fourth, the Master Declaration for the whole mixed-use project, recorded January 5, 2009 as instrument 0900202, is referred to by all three but is not in this file.
That layering is why several questions come back as not addressed. Pets, mailboxes, clotheslines, flags, grilling, vehicle repair and short-stay letting are simply not dealt with by the university's declaration. That does not mean nobody has a rule about them. It means the rule, if there is one, is in your own development's declaration or its association's rules, and you should ask for those by name.
One more thing that distinguishes this place: the approving body is the University of Notre Dame itself, not a neighborhood architectural committee, and the declaration gives it re-entry rights on a vacant lot if building does not start within two years of purchase or finish within twenty-four months of starting. There are no dues and no association under this document at all. Whatever you pay monthly will come from your own development's association.
The recorded copy on file is a scan of paper, so individual words can be misread, and every answer quotes the document's own wording so you can judge it yourself. Confirm the full set of recorded documents for your specific address through the title company before you rely on any of this.
A fence is named directly in the approval clause. Building, erecting or altering one needs Notre Dame's prior written approval of a Building Plan, and the university applies published development guidelines that cover fencing among other things. There is no height or material figure in the declaration itself, so the standard is whatever the guidelines and the university set. If a fence matters to you, ask what has been approved on nearby lots before you buy.
The declaration never uses the word shed. What it says is that no other building or structure may be constructed, erected or altered on a lot without Notre Dame's prior written approval of a Building Plan. A detached storage building falls inside that, so it is possible only with approval, and the declaration sets no size or placement standard of its own.
There is a rule, and it turns on visibility rather than an outright ban. A recreational vehicle, motor home, truck over half a ton, trailer, boat or disabled vehicle may not be parked or stored overnight or longer on a lot in open view from a public street. Shorter daytime parking is not caught by those words, and neither is something kept out of open view from the street. The declaration does not address a garage either way.
A swimming pool is named directly in the approval clause, alongside a ball court, patio and deck. Building one needs Notre Dame's prior written approval of a Building Plan. The declaration sets no separate pool standard and does not distinguish in-ground from above-ground.
This is the central fact about living here, and it is stricter than an ordinary neighborhood architectural committee. Notre Dame itself, not a homeowners board, approves exterior work. No improvement, alteration, change of colours, excavation, change in grade, planting or other work that in any way alters a lot or the exterior of a living unit may be done without the university's prior written approval of a Building Plan. A Building Plan can mean a site plan by a licensed engineer or architect, a foundation plan and finished floor elevations, building plans with elevations and floor plans, samples of exterior materials, a landscaping plan, an exterior lighting plan and anything else the university reasonably asks for. If the university does not approve, modify or disapprove in writing within sixty days of a properly filed plan, approval is deemed denied rather than granted. A disapproval has to give specific reasons, and the university reviews against the Northeast Neighborhood Design Guidelines and any further guidelines it adopts. Three things are expressly exempt from needing approval: real estate sales and leasing signs within the stated limits, low plantings under eighteen inches and ordinary replanting consistent with an approved plan, and anything on the interior. The university may also decline to consider a plan from an owner who is currently in violation, unless the owner posts an undertaking to cure. Work that is started has to be substantially complete within twenty-four months.
The declaration never names a satellite dish or a receiving antenna. What it prohibits outright, in its list of prohibited uses, is a television or other transmission tower. Beyond that, the general rule catches it: a fixture or equipment that alters the exterior of a living unit needs Notre Dame's prior written approval of a Building Plan. Federal rules limit how far a covenant like this can be enforced against a small dish, so ask the university what it currently permits rather than assuming either way.
Solar is not named anywhere in the declaration. Panels on a roof or in a yard would alter the exterior of a living unit, which brings them inside the rule that no work altering a lot or the exterior may be done without Notre Dame's prior written approval of a Building Plan. Nothing here says solar is encouraged or discouraged, so this is a question to put to the university in writing before you commit to a system.
Plantings are covered, with sensible exemptions for small stuff. Anything that alters a lot, including plantings, needs Notre Dame's prior written approval of a Building Plan. Three things are exempt: flowers, bushes, shrubs and other plants under eighteen inches high; ordinary maintenance or replanting of plantings installed under an approved plan; and additional plantings consistent with the approved plan for the living unit. Landscaping specified in an approved Building Plan has to be installed within sixty days of the living unit being substantially complete if that falls between March 1 and October 15, and otherwise before May 1. Every owner keeps the grass, trees, shrubs and other plantings on their lot neatly cut, cultivated or trimmed and in good and sightly condition.
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 →Renting is contemplated rather than restricted, but the occupancy limit is the thing to know, and in a neighborhood next to a university it matters more than usual. Unless a stricter government rule applies, it is a prohibited use for more than three adults unrelated by blood, marriage or legal adoption to live together in one dwelling, or more than two in a dwelling with a single bedroom, or in an efficiency. A dwelling for this purpose is a room or set of rooms designed for year-round habitation with a bathroom and kitchen, used as a permanent residence by at least one person. Elsewhere the declaration expressly contemplates the property being leased or rented and allows leasing signs, so it does not bar letting a home. What it does not do is set any other condition on a tenancy, so check your own sub-development's declaration, which may.
A basketball hoop is not named. A ball court is, among the structures that need Notre Dame's prior written approval of a Building Plan, and the same rule reaches any work that alters a lot or the exterior of a living unit. So a permanently mounted hoop would need approval. A portable one on a driveway is not addressed either way.
There is one clear allowance and otherwise a permission requirement. A real estate sales or leasing sign needs no approval provided it is no more than six square feet in area, no more than eight feet high, there is no more than one per street frontage of the lot with no more than two faces per sign, and it is not illuminated. Any other signage on a lot or living unit needs Notre Dame's prior written approval of a Building Plan, except signage on the interior, which is exempt. Commercial advertising structures such as billboards are a prohibited use. So is parking a vehicle so that it functions as a sign, meaning a vehicle, trailer or similar movable structure carrying signage between the street right-of-way and the front building line, though passenger vehicles, pick-ups and vans that fit a standard parking space and carry painted or permanently affixed door or body-panel signs of no more than sixteen square feet are excepted, as are construction and delivery vehicles.
Two rules bear on parking. A recreational vehicle, motor home, truck over half a ton, trailer, boat or disabled vehicle may not be parked or stored overnight or longer on a lot in open view from a public street, which is also where a broken-down car sitting on the driveway would be caught. Separately, it is a prohibited use to park a vehicle so that it functions as a sign, with exceptions for construction and delivery vehicles, vehicles in screened truck parking areas, and ordinary passenger vehicles, pick-ups and vans that fit a standard space and carry door or body-panel signage of no more than sixteen square feet. Building a parking area on a lot needs Notre Dame's prior written approval of a Building Plan. Ordinary day-to-day parking of a resident's own car is not otherwise addressed, and on-street parking is a city matter rather than a covenant one.
Working from home is allowed, and the declaration hands the test to the city rather than inventing its own. Any non-residential use of a lot or living unit is a prohibited use, other than a home occupation permitted under and in accordance with the South Bend Zoning Ordinance. So what you may run from home is whatever that ordinance allows for a home occupation, and it is worth reading the current version before you rely on it. A builder may also use a living unit as a model home, again in accordance with the ordinance. Notre Dame may approve something outside this in writing, at its sole discretion.
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 →All rubbish, garbage and other waste is stored in closed sanitary containers, and except on collection days the facilities and equipment for storing and disposing of it are kept out of view of neighbouring homes. The declaration does not name a collection day or say where bins have to sit.
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 →The line the declaration draws is between outside and inside. Anything installed or altered on the exterior of a living unit, including signage, needs Notre Dame's prior written approval of a Building Plan. Work on the interior is expressly exempt from that requirement, and the exemption names interior signage specifically. So what you put inside your own window is outside the approval rule, while anything fixed to the outside of it is not. The declaration says nothing about the appearance or condition of curtains, blinds or shades.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.