What the recorded documents actually say about Fishler's River Forest in Goshen — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
11 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 the recorded Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations and Easements for Fishler's River Forest, recorded in Elkhart County on October 31, 1996 as Instrument No. 96 027528 by the developer, Pheasant Ridge Development Co., Inc. The recorded copy on file is a scan of paper, so individual words can be misread. Every paragraph an answer here rests on was read by eye off the page images before it was written down.
A SECOND DOCUMENT IS CIRCULATING WITH LISTINGS HERE AND IT IS NOT THE RECORDED COVENANTS. It is a twelve-page word-processed revision of these same restrictions with the changes marked in red. It carries no recording stamp, no instrument number, no signatures and no notary page, and it ends on a new paragraph about board structure. On its face it is a revision the association has been working on, not a recorded amendment, so nothing in it governs a lot unless and until it is recorded. Every answer on this page comes from the 1996 recorded instrument instead. If a seller or agent hands you the red-marked version, ask the association and the title company whether any of it was ever recorded. The proposed changes are not cosmetic: among other things they would bar perimeter and partial yard fencing outright, add pool and patio fence specifications, require site-built homes with half the front in brick or stone, permit burning of yard waste under county ordinance, move the overnight street-parking ban to 6:00 a.m., add a dues review procedure with a 20 percent yearly cap, and add the board structure paragraph.
What the recorded covenants cover: the instrument describes the land by section and township rather than by lot number, as part of the fractional Southeast quarter of Section 23 and part of the Southwest quarter of Section 24, Township 37 North, Range 5 East, Concord Township. The plat itself is not in the file here, so lot lines, easements and the platted setback lines could not be read. Order the plat and a current title commitment from the Recorder or the title company before relying on any boundary or setback.
Some rules apply only to river front lots: no fences at all, no screen planting over 72 inches within 30 feet of the rear lot line, and no detached building within 30 feet of the rear lot line. Confirm whether the lot you are considering is a river front lot before relying on any fence or outbuilding answer here. There is one association and one set of dues; the recorded covenants create no lake, river or shoreline association and contain no flood, floodplain, retention pond, seawall or dock restriction of any kind.
Money: the recorded covenants cap total dues and assessments at $175.00 per lot per year plus a $100.00 initiation fee on purchase, and that cap could only be raised after the developer's first ten years by owners of at least 51 percent of the lots recording an amendment. A homeowners association disclosure form in this file, signed in January 2026, reports recurring dues of $160.00 payable annually with no upcoming assessments. That is one seller's statement about one home, not a recorded number, so confirm the current amount with the association.
One oddity in the recorded text, worth knowing before you ask about it: the trash pickup paragraph names the Pheasant Ridge homeowners association rather than the River Forest one. Every other paragraph names River Forest.
Fencing is tightly limited and needs written approval from the Architectural Control Committee. The only enclosures the recorded covenants permit are a wood rail fence no more than four feet high, or a privacy fence around an immediate patio no more than six feet, which has to conform to the architectural standards set by the style of the home. The committee can approve a variance from the fence requirement in writing, and fencing that comes in as part of an approved pool or recreational facility is handled under the pools paragraph instead. River front lots are treated differently: the covenants say no fences on them, and bar perimeter fencing of any type, including hedges and other growing fences, chain link and split rail, except as approved in advance in writing by the committee. A separate rule bars any fence, wall, hedge or shrub that blocks sight lines between two and six feet above the roadway inside the corner triangle 25 feet back from an intersection, or within ten feet of a driveway.
Nothing may be built or placed on a lot without the Architectural Control Committee approving the construction plans first, and that covers an outbuilding as much as a house. A separate paragraph names detached structures directly: a detached pet shelter, play house, play structures, structures designed for swimming pool apparatus or any other personal property must be of quality construction, kept in attractive and neat appearance, blend with the established home, and be submitted to the committee for approval before construction begins. The committee can require protective screening around them. On a lot abutting the river no such structure may go within 30 feet of the rear lot line. A well or pump house also needs written committee approval. No garage, outbuilding, trailer, tent or shack may be used as a residence at any time.
The covenants say recreational and commercial vehicles, naming campers, trailers, trucks, boats and snowmobiles, may not be kept in open areas in the subdivision, whether those open areas are on or off the owner's lot. They never define what an open area is, and that sentence never mentions a garage either way, so where one of these may sit when it is not in an open area is simply not addressed. Two nearby facts are worth knowing. A separate sentence in the same paragraph says all vehicles to be parked overnight shall be located entirely within a garage or driveway, and it is about motor vehicles rather than about campers and boats. And every home is separately required to have a full-size attached garage holding at least two and no more than three cars. The document still does not say what may be kept inside it. If this matters to you, get the association's position in writing before you buy rather than assuming either reading.
Above ground pools are not permitted at all. An in-ground pool is allowed, but only after the plans and specifications have been approved in writing by the Architectural Control Committee, and any lighting fixtures for it need the same prior approval. The same paragraph treats permanent or paved recreational and athletic facilities the same way. A safety or privacy fence around a pool is allowed up to six feet under the fencing paragraph, subject to committee approval. A structure designed for swimming pool apparatus is a detached building and needs its own approval before construction starts.
Written Architectural Control Committee approval comes before anything is built, placed or altered. The committee has to approve the builder as well as the plans, and the covenants say its decision is entirely within its discretion. No building or other structure may be erected, placed, maintained or altered, and the natural topography or drainage of a lot may not be altered, until the committee approves the construction plans. Those plans must show the floor plan, quality of construction materials, outside colours, harmony of external design with existing structures, and location with respect to lot lines, topography and finish grade. Approval or denial comes in writing with reasons for a denial stated. Pavement of any kind, including parking and recreational paving, needs approval too, and no deviation from approved plans is allowed without prior written consent. Trees to be removed must be marked first and the committee gets three days to review. The covenants also set their own standards: a single-family home no taller than two and one-half stories, an attached garage for two to three cars, a minimum of 2,000 square feet of living area for a ranch, 2,400 for a two-story and 2,200 for a one and one-half story, bi-level or tri-level, with the committee able to allow down to 1,700 and 2,100 square feet on a majority vote; a concrete driveway at least twelve feet wide and four inches thick, with no stone or cinder drives; chimneys of masonry or exterior masonry veneer; a dusk to dawn post light on each lot in front of the building setback line; and completion of any structure within one year of starting.
The two halves of this rule point opposite ways, so read both. Outside above-ground television, AM, FM and short wave radio antennas of any type may not be erected or maintained on any lot or structure. Satellite dishes are treated separately and are allowed: an 18 inch dish is permitted provided it is not conspicuously visible from the street or from adjacent homes. The covenants set no approval step for a dish of that size and say nothing about a larger one. All utility service, including cable television, has to run underground and not be visible.
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 →Landscaping here is a requirement with specifics attached. Every lot has to be maintained in good and orderly fashion with appropriate landscaping in keeping with the pattern established in the subdivision, and no lot may be overgrown or weed infested. Every lot must have an underground irrigation system able to water all cultivated areas, kept in good working order and run enough to keep growing conditions proper. The side, front and rear yards have to be planted with grass, sod or ground cover within 120 days after the structure is finished or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the Architectural Control Committee approves otherwise; on wooded lots the ground between the tree line and the curb has to be planted and kept neat as well. Vacant lots must be kept free of rubbish and weeds with grass at a reasonable length, and after ten days written notice to cure, the association may do the work at the lot owner's cost. Screen planting is capped at 72 inches between the building setback line and the front lot line, and is barred within 30 feet of the rear lot line on lots abutting the river.
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 →Dogs, cats and other household pets are allowed. Animals, livestock and poultry of any kind may not be raised, bred or kept on a lot, and a household pet may not be kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose or allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard. One flat prohibition sits on top of that: no vicious or attack trained dog may be kept at any time on any lot. The covenants set no number limit and name no breed beyond that. Barking dogs are named in the nuisance paragraph as an example of what is not allowed. A detached pet shelter is permitted but counts as a detached building, so it needs Architectural Control Committee approval before it goes up, it has to blend with the home, the committee can require screening around it, and on a lot abutting the river it may not go within 30 feet of the rear lot line.
This is a real restriction and it is easy to miss. No lease of a dwelling unit may be entered into without the prior approval of the association, and no lease may run longer than one year. The covenants do not say what standard the association applies, how long it has to answer, or whether a renewal counts as a new lease, and they set no cap on how many homes may be leased at once. If you are buying here to rent the home out, get the association's approval process and its current position in writing before you close.
A basketball court is named directly. Permanent or paved recreational and athletic facilities, with tennis, basketball and volleyball courts given as the examples, may not be erected, built or installed on any lot until the plans and specifications have been approved in writing by the Architectural Control Committee, and any lighting for them needs the same prior approval. A portable hoop standing on the driveway is not named in the covenants either way. Play structures are covered separately as detached buildings and need committee approval before construction, have to blend with the home, and can be required to be screened.
No sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a lot, with the exceptions the covenants name: one sign of not more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or rent, and a builder's sign of any size advertising the property for sale or rent or during the construction and sales period. The developer reserved the right to put up its own signs to promote and sell lots and homes here. Political, contractor and security signs are not addressed separately, so on the face of this wording they would fall under the general restriction; the association is the place to confirm how it is applied.
Motor vehicles of any kind may not 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 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Any vehicle parked overnight has to be entirely within a garage or driveway. The same paragraph separately bars recreational and commercial vehicles, naming campers, trailers, trucks, boats and snowmobiles, from open areas in the subdivision whether on or off the lot. Supporting requirements: every home needs a full-size attached garage holding at least two and no more than three cars, and the driveway has to be concrete, at least twelve feet wide and four inches thick, with a circular drive in front at least eight feet wide. Nothing in the covenants addresses how many cars may sit in the driveway.
The paragraph headed Home Occupations says a lot may not be used for any purpose other than as a single-family residence, and it attaches no exception for a business run from the home. The only use exception anywhere in the covenants is the developer's right to use one lot for realty sales and promotion. The covenants do not define what counts as using a lot for a purpose, so a home office with no sign, no customers and no employees is not separately addressed, and nothing here sets an approval route for one. Take any plan that would bring customers, employees, deliveries or a sign to the property to the association first.
The covenants never use the words short-term, vacation or transient rental. What they do say is that no lease of a dwelling unit may be entered into without the prior approval of the association, which on its face reaches a short stay as much as a year-long one, and the lot may not be used for any purpose other than as a single-family residence. There is no stated minimum stay, no carve-out for a room rental and no registration process. Anyone planning to rent the home out nightly or weekly should get the association's position in writing before buying.
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, grass clippings, leaves, tree limbs or compost, and trash, garbage and other waste may only be kept in sanitary containers, with all storage and disposal equipment kept clean and sanitary. Debris left anywhere in the subdivision may be cleaned up at the offender's expense, and while a home is under construction debris has to be contained so it does not litter adjoining properties; if it becomes a general nuisance the association may clean it up at the lot owner's cost. The covenants also fix the schedule: trash pickup happens on one specified day each week, with the association electing the company by majority vote, so a homeowner here does not choose their own hauler. Open burning of any kind is prohibited, which is covered under grilling.
The covenants never mention a grill or a barbecue, in either direction. What they have is a burning rule inside the garbage and refuse disposal paragraph, and it is written broadly: no open burning is permitted on any lot, whether in incinerators, containers or otherwise, and the prohibition covers trash, waste, refuse, building materials, leaves, tree limbs, grass clippings, debris and any other material of any kind of description. On the face of that wording an open fire pit or a burn barrel on the lot is caught. A contained cooking grill is a different thing from open burning and is nowhere named, so the document settles the fire pit and leaves the grill open. If it matters to you, ask the association in writing rather than relying on either reading.
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.