What the recorded documents actually say about Hidden Meadow East in Goshen — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
12 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 recorded instrument: the Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations, and Easements for Hidden Meadow East, Section Two, filed with the Elkhart County Recorder on February 5, 2004 as instrument 2004-03957. It covers the lots in the Section Two plat of Hidden Meadow East and says so in its own opening recitals.
Hidden Meadow East was platted in sections and each section got its own separately recorded set of restrictions. Two of the others are on file here and were read alongside Section Two. The Section One recording, stamped by the Elkhart County Recorder on November 3, 2003, is the same instrument word for word with the section name swapped, checked line by line. The Section Four recording, Elkhart County instrument 2004-36677, is the same 37-paragraph form with the same table of contents; its scan is poor, so no quotation here is taken from it, but the parts that are legible, including the above ground pool ban and the mailbox paragraph, match Section Two. A Section Three is not in this collection and has not been read.
So if your lot is in Section Three, treat this page as a close guide rather than as your own document. The declaration that runs with your lot is a public record at the Elkhart County Recorder, and a title company can normally name it from your legal description.
One document was read and deliberately not used for any answer below. The Code of By-Laws for Hidden Meadow Homeowners Association, revised July 16, 2022, was attached to a home for sale in Hidden Meadow East, and it carries real rules of its own that the recorded covenants do not have, including a solar panel and metal roof standard adopted on October 14, 2023 and a kiddie pool rule. But those by-laws describe the development they govern as Hidden Meadow, not Hidden Meadow East, and nothing in them says whether they reach these plats. Rather than answer a question for you out of a document that may not govern your lot, this page leaves those topics as not stated and tells you where they are. Ask the association for the by-laws and for the recorded covenants for your own section.
Fencing is allowed but it is controlled on two counts. All fencing has to match the architectural standard set by the style of the house it stands at, and the Architectural Control Committee has to approve it in writing before construction starts. Separately, on a corner lot nothing may obstruct sight lines between two and six feet above the roadway inside the triangle formed by the two street lines and a line joining them twenty-five feet back from the corner, and the same limit applies within ten feet of where a driveway meets the street. Where the plat marks a protective screening area, screen planting over seventy-two inches high is not permitted between the building setback line and the front lot line. The documents set no general fence height or material list, so the committee decides that detail.
A detached building is allowed with approval and there is a hard size limit. Any detached pet shelter, play house or structure for storing lawn tools, toys or pool equipment has to be of quality construction, kept neat, blend with the house, and go to the Architectural Control Committee for approval before construction begins. The maximum size for detached buildings, including storage buildings and pool houses, is 10 feet by 12 feet unless the committee or the developer grants a written exception, and the committee may require screening planted around the structure. A well or pump house needs its own written approval.
The paragraph headed Recreational and Commercial Vehicles bars campers, trailers, trucks, boats and snowmobiles from being kept in open areas in the subdivision, and it says that applies whether the open area is on your lot or off it. The document never defines what an open area is, and it never mentions a garage either way, so a camper closed inside a garage is simply not addressed one way or the other. What is addressed plainly: no vehicle of any kind may be parked, kept or stored on a street or a lawn area, and a separate storage paragraph says no lot may be used to store old lumber, boats, cars, materials or debris that would tend to make the lot unsightly. If you own a camper or a boat, ask the association in writing where it may sit before you buy.
Above ground pools are not permitted at all. An in-ground pool is permitted only after the Architectural Control Committee approves the plans and specifications in writing, and any lighting for it needs that same prior approval. The documents give no setback, fencing or size figure for a pool, so those terms come from the committee and from county rules.
Nothing structural happens without written approval first. No building or structure may be erected, placed, maintained or altered, and the natural topography or drainage of a lot may not be changed, until the Architectural Control Committee approves the plan. The submission has to show the floor plan, the quality of construction materials, the outside colors, how the external design sits with existing houses, and the location against lot lines, topography and finish grade, including pavement, well and septic placement. One complete set of plans is submitted and is kept by the developer. Approval is also required for pavement of any kind, including parking and recreational paving, and no deviation from approved plans is allowed without the committee agreeing in writing first. The committee is three people appointed by the developer, and the document says its decision is entirely within its discretion.
Outside above ground television, AM, FM and short wave radio antennas of any type are not permitted on any lot or structure. A satellite dish is allowed only if it is less than two feet across. All utility service, including cable television, is required to run underground and not be visible. Federal rules on antenna and dish size have changed since this was recorded in 2004, so ask the association how it applies the two-foot limit today.
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 is required, not optional, and there is a clock on it. The side, front and rear yards have to be planted with grass, sod or ground cover within 120 days of the house being finished or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the Architectural Control Committee approves otherwise. On a wooded lot, everything between the tree line and the curb has to be planted as well. Every lot must also have an underground irrigation system able to water all cultivated areas, kept in working order and actually run. Lots must be kept in good and orderly fashion with landscaping in keeping with the pattern of the subdivision, and may not be overgrown or weed infested; on a violation the owner gets ten days notice and then the association may do the work and bill them. Taking out a tree for any purpose goes to the committee to approve or disapprove, with the trees marked in orange spray paint and the developer notified in writing 48 hours before cutting.
There is a detailed mailbox standard. The mailbox goes in front of the house, placed for easy mail and newspaper delivery, and it has to be landscaped so it looks presentable. Its design and materials have to be similar to the house, or as the developer determines, and it has to have a newspaper receptacle directly beneath it. The mailbox or post carries brass numbers three inches tall on both sides so they can be read from traffic coming either way.
Dogs, cats and other household pets are allowed. The conditions are that they are not kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose and are not allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard. Vicious or attack trained dogs may not be kept on any lot. Livestock and poultry of any kind are not permitted. The document sets no limit on the number of pets.
Leasing is restricted on two points. No lease of a dwelling may be entered into without the developer approving it first, and no lease may run longer than one year. The document was recorded in 2004 while the developer still controlled the subdivision, and it does not say who holds that approval right once the lots are sold, so ask the association who signs off on a lease today and whether the one-year limit is still enforced.
A permanent or paved basketball court is named directly: it may not be built or installed on a lot until the Architectural Control Committee has approved the plans and specifications in writing, and any lighting for it needs that same prior approval. A portable goal rolled onto a driveway is not named either way. Note that paving of any kind, including for recreational use, needs committee approval under the architectural control paragraph.
One sign is allowed on a lot and it is capped at five square feet, advertising the home for sale or for rent. A builder may use a sign of any size to advertise the property during construction and the sales period, and the developer reserved the right to put up its own promotional signs. A sign promoting the sale of an undeveloped lot is not permitted except by the developer or with the developer's written consent. The document says nothing about political, contractor, security or holiday signs.
Parking is pushed onto the driveway and into the garage. No motor vehicle of any kind may be parked, kept, stored or maintained on any street or on a lawn area, and no vehicle may be parked on a street between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. Each dwelling is required to have a full size attached garage holding at least two cars, and not more than three without the Architectural Control Committee agreeing in writing. Driveways must be concrete, at least twelve feet wide and at least four inches thick; stone and cinder driveways are not permitted. The document sets out no guest-parking allowance, so a visitor left at the curb overnight is caught by the same street rule.
The paragraph is headed Home Occupations, and what it says is that no lot may be used for any purpose other than a single-family residence, so a business use of the property is not permitted on the face of the document. It does not define use, and it says nothing about a home office with no customers, no employees and no outside sign, which is where most people's question actually sits. The sign paragraph leaves no room for business signage, since the only sign allowed on a lot advertises the home for sale or rent. If you work from home, put the specifics to the association before you buy.
The document never uses the words short term, vacation or nightly, and there is no separate short-term rental rule. What it does have is a lease paragraph that catches every lease: none may be entered into without the developer's prior approval, and none may run longer than a year. A separate paragraph limits a lot to use as a single-family residence. Read together those are a real constraint on renting a house out by the night, but the document does not say so in those words, and it does not say who holds the approval right now that the subdivision is built out. Ask the association.
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, garbage and other waste must be kept in sanitary containers, and the equipment used to store or dispose of it has to be kept clean. No lot may be used as a dumping ground for rubbish, grass clippings, leaves, tree limbs or compost, and clippings, leaves and other waste may not be put on anyone else's property in the subdivision. Debris left anywhere in the subdivision may be cleaned up by the developer at the offender's expense. Collection is coordinated: all trash pick up happens on one specified day each week, with the association electing the day by majority vote. The document does not say where a container may sit between collections.
The burning paragraph is broad and then carves out exactly one thing. No open burning is permitted on any lot, in incinerators, containers or otherwise, and the ban covers trash, waste, refuse, building materials, leaves, tree limbs, grass clippings and debris. The same paragraph then says the homeowner is permitted a campfire or barbecue pit up to three feet across for clean burning wood or charcoal. So a charcoal fire in a pit within that size is expressly allowed. The document never uses the word grill and never mentions gas or propane, so where a grill may sit, and whether a gas grill counts as burning at all, are not answered here.
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.