What the recorded documents actually say about Hunters Pointe in Elkhart — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
10 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 covenants for Hunter's Pointe Addition A in Elkhart County. The governing document is the Amended Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations and Easements for Hunter's Pointe Addition A, recorded in 1984 as Elkhart County instrument number 741032. It restates in full the original covenants recorded in April 1979 in Miscellaneous Volume 125, Page 185, and it changed several of them. One later recorded amendment, voted by seventy-five percent of owners on January 10, 1988, replaced the pets paragraph outright, and that replacement is what is reported here.
Addition A is the only addition these documents cover. The covenants refer to additions and sections of Hunter's Pointe generally, so if the home you are looking at sits in a later addition or section, ask your title company for the covenants recorded against that plat before relying on this page.
The file on hand also held a 1979 declaration for a different Hunter's Pointe. That one was signed and notarized near Indianapolis, its common ground is described in Johnson County, and it creates a Hunter's Pointe Recreation Association rather than the Hunter's Pointe Homeowners Association named in the Elkhart covenants. It does not govern this neighborhood and no answer on this page is drawn from it.
The association by-laws booklet on file is not a recorded instrument and a board can amend by-laws, so treat anything drawn from it as current practice rather than a recorded rule.
The cap of one hundred twenty-five dollars per lot per year on dues and assessments is what the 1984 document says. It is not necessarily what the association charges now, so ask the association for the current figure and for any rules it has adopted since.
Every document here was read from a scan of paper, so confirm anything you would act on against the recorded copy from the Elkhart County Recorder or through your title company.
Paragraph 8, Perimeter Fencing, allows only two kinds of fence: a split rail fence three rails high and no more than four feet high, or a privacy fence around the immediate patio of no more than six feet. Either one must conform to the architectural standards set by the style of home built on the lot and must be approved in writing by the Hunter's Pointe Architectural Control Committee, unless the committee approves a written variance. Paragraph 17 adds that no fence, wall, hedge or shrub may block sight lines between two and six feet above the roadway inside the triangle formed twenty-five feet back from a corner lot's street lines, or within ten feet of where a driveway meets the street. Paragraph 1 says the committee's authority expires fifteen years after the plat was recorded, so ask the association who reviews fence plans today.
Paragraph 12, Detached Buildings, covers detached storage buildings and pet shelters used for lawn tools, toys, pool equipment or other personal property. They must be of quality construction, kept in attractive and neat appearance, blend with the established home, and be submitted to the Architectural Control Committee for approval before construction begins. The committee may require protective screening around them. On a lot that abuts the river, no such structure is permitted within thirty feet of the rear lot line. A well house or boat house needs separate written committee approval. Paragraph 10 separately bars using a trailer, tent, shack, barn or other outbuilding as a residence at any time.
Paragraph 23, Recreational and Commercial Vehicles, says 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. The document never defines what an open area is, and it never mentions a garage either way, so where a camper or a boat may sit when it is not in an open area is genuinely unaddressed by the covenant. Paragraph 12 does require written committee approval to build a boat house, and paragraph 4 requires every dwelling to have an attached garage for at least two and at most three cars. If this matters to you, ask the association in writing how it reads paragraph 23 before you buy.
Paragraph 11, Pools and Tennis Courts, prohibits above ground pools outright. An in ground pool or a tennis court may be built, but not until the plans and specifications have been approved in writing by the Hunter's Pointe Architectural Control Committee. Paragraph 12 treats a structure housing swimming pool apparatus as a detached building needing the same approval.
Paragraph 3, Architectural Control, requires committee approval before any building or structure is erected, placed, maintained or altered on a lot, and before the natural topography or drainage of a lot is changed. Plans must show the floor plan, quality of construction, materials, outside colours, how the external design harmonizes with existing structures, and the location relative to lot lines, topography and finish grade. Three complete sets go in, two are retained and one comes back, and the approval or refusal is in writing. Nothing that does not fully match the approved plans may be built, and no change from approved plans may be made without the committee's prior written consent. Paragraph 1 says the committee is three people appointed by the developer and that its authority expires fifteen years after the plat was recorded, so ask the association who performs this review now.
Paragraph 25, Utilities and Television Antennas, says no outside above ground television, AM, FM or short wave radio antenna of any type may be erected or maintained on any lot or structure. It also requires all utility service, including cable television, to run underground and out of sight. The document was written in 1979 and restated in 1984 and it never uses the words satellite or dish, so whether a modern dish counts as a television antenna under this wording is not settled on the face of the document. Federal rules on over-the-air reception devices can also limit how a restriction like this is enforced, which is a question for your attorney and the association rather than something the covenant answers.
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 →Several paragraphs touch the yard. Paragraph 7, Protective Screening, requires plantings in the areas marked as non-access easements on the plat to be kept up by the lot owner at their own expense to form an effective screen, and caps screen planting at seventy-two inches between the building setback line and the front lot line, and within thirty feet of the rear lot line on lots abutting the river or creek. Paragraph 18 requires the side, front and rear yards to be planted with grass seed, sod or ground cover within one hundred twenty days after the house is finished or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the Architectural Control Committee approves otherwise. Paragraph 3 requires committee approval before the natural topography or drainage of a lot is altered, and paragraph 17 limits hedges and shrubs that block sight lines near corners and driveways.
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 →Paragraph 15 was replaced outright by a recorded amendment that seventy-five percent of owners voted through on January 10, 1988, so the amendment is the rule. Dogs, cats and other household pets may be kept, provided they are not kept, bred or maintained for commercial purposes and are not allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard. No other animals, livestock or poultry may be raised, bred or kept on a lot. The amendment adds three things: all pets must be on a leash when outdoors and may not stray beyond the owner's property lines; no resident or owner may keep a dog or other household pet trained for territorial protection or attack, or vicious in nature, which the amendment defines as one that has bitten an animal or a person in an unprovoked attack or shown other vicious tendencies; and no dog commonly known as a pit bull is allowed, meaning one with a lineage of one quarter or more American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier or Staffordshire Terrier. Paragraph 12 requires committee approval before building a pet shelter.
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 →Paragraph 14 allows one sign of no more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or for rent, and a builder's sign of any size while the property is under construction and being sold. Any other sign displayed to public view on a lot is prohibited. The developer reserved the right to put up its own signs to promote and sell lots.
The covenant restricts the surface rather than the number of cars. Paragraph 13 bars stone and cinder driveways, requires every driveway to be at least twelve feet wide and built of asphalt or concrete at least four inches thick, and allows a circular drive in front of a home to be as narrow as eight feet. Paragraph 4 requires every dwelling to have a full size attached garage holding at least two and no more than three cars, and paragraph 2 limits a private garage to three cars. Paragraph 23 reaches trucks as well as campers, trailers, boats and snowmobiles, and keeps them out of open areas in the subdivision whether on or off the owner's lot. Nothing in the document sets a rule for parking an ordinary passenger car on the driveway or on the street.
Paragraph 2, under the heading Home Occupations, says no lot may be used for any purpose other than as a single family residence. Paragraph 2 also limits each lot to one single family dwelling of no more than two and a half stories plus a private garage for no more than three cars. The document sets out no exception for a home office or a business that draws no traffic, signage or employees, and it does not define what counts as a use, so a quiet desk job and a customer-facing business sit on different sides of a line the covenant never draws. The only sign permitted on a lot is a for sale or for rent sign of five square feet, which limits advertising a business from the property either way.
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 →Paragraph 16, Garbage and Refuse Disposal, says no lot may be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish, and trash, garbage and other waste may be kept only in sanitary containers. Any incinerator or other equipment for storing or disposing of such material must be kept clean and sanitary. The document does not say where containers must be stored between collections. Paragraph 24 gives the association authority to enforce the restrictions on accumulations of rubbish, weeds and trash.
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 →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.