What the recorded documents actually say about Keystone Pointe Second in Goshen — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
9 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
Which lots these answers cover, and why this page and the Keystone Pointe page cite the same filing. Every rule below is read from one recorded instrument: the Restatement and Amendment of Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions of Keystone Pointe, a Planned Unit Development, adopted October 3, 2017 and recorded with the Elkhart County Recorder on October 4, 2017 as Instrument Number 2017-21380. That instrument governs Keystone Pointe Second by name rather than by implication. Its Exhibit A lists Lots 73 through 82 as the lots on the recorded plat of Keystone Pointe Second, A Planned Unit Development, recorded in Plat Book 28, page 33 as Instrument Number 2003-13173, and its recitals describe the association as the homeowners association for all of the lots, numbered 1 through 14 and 24 through 82, collectively all of the lots in Keystone Pointe, Keystone Pointe Second, and Keystone Pointe Third. Keystone Pointe Second is a later plat inside one planned unit development, not a separate one with its own covenants, so one recording correctly governs all three plats and all three share one association and one set of rules.
If your lot is not numbered 73 through 82, it is still inside Keystone Pointe, but it sits on the original plat recorded in Plat Book 25, page 81 as Instrument Number 99-35759, or on the Keystone Pointe Third replat recorded in Plat Book 30, page 86 as Instrument Number 2006-03576. The same restated declaration governs all of them. Lot 82 is named separately in the assessment provisions as a duplex cluster within a triplex cluster, which changes how its share of the building costs is calculated, so a buyer on Lot 82 should ask the association for its specific assessment figure.
What else is on file and what was ruled out. The full chain is here and was read: the original Declaration of April 24, 2000, Instrument Number 2000-11681; the First Amendment of April 23, 2002, Instrument Number 2002-15523; a further First Amendment of April 30, 2002, Instrument Number 2002-16461; the Second Amendment of April 10, 2003, Instrument Number 2003-14679; the Third Amendment of February 14, 2006, Instrument Number 2006-03922; a Supplemental Declaration of March 2001 annexing Lot 71, Instrument Number 2001-06793; and the First Amendment to the earlier 2011 restatement, Instrument Number 2014-01860. All of those are superseded. The 2017 restatement says its purpose was to replace the original declaration and every prior amendment with one complete updated document, and the answers below come from it alone. The association's Amended and Restated Code of Bylaws of 2019 was also read; it is corporate procedure and sets no use restriction.
How reliable the copy on file is. All of it is scanned paper read by optical character recognition, so individual words can be misread. Recording numbers and recorder stamps were checked against the page images where the scanned text was unclear. Three separate copies of the 2017 restatement were filed with different listings and they are the same recording rather than three filings. These answers come from the declaration only, and a board in a development like this one is expressly authorised to adopt further policies on pets, noise, rentals, satellite dishes, outside display and parking. Ask the association for its current policies and budget before you rely on any answer here.
A fence needs the Architectural Control Committee's approval before anything is built. The declaration names a fence directly in the list of things no owner may commence, erect, maintain, improve or alter without that prior approval, and the committee's stated job is to regulate the external design, appearance, use, location and maintenance of the property and the improvements on it. The committee makes reasonable effort to approve, modify or disapprove an application in writing within 30 days, a decision can be appealed to the board in writing within 30 days, and the board can reverse or modify it on a three-fourths vote. The declaration sets no height, material or style limits of its own, so the standards live in whatever rules the committee has adopted. Ask the association for those before you plan a fence.
The declaration never uses the word shed, but it puts any other structure an owner wants to build behind the Architectural Control Committee's prior approval, alongside a dwelling and a fence. The separate approval clause reaches wider still: no improvement, alteration, repair, change of color, excavation or change in grade that alters the site from the state it was in when the builder first sold it may be done without that approval. There are no size or placement numbers in the document. This is a planned unit development where the association maintains the lawns and much of the exterior, so ask the committee what it allows before you buy a shed.
The declaration bars storing boats, campers, trailers of any kind, buses, mobile homes, trucks other than pickups, motorcycles, mini bikes, mopeds, and any vehicle other than a normal passenger automobile anywhere on the property. It then writes its own exception: nothing in that sentence prevents parking or storing such a vehicle completely enclosed within a garage. So the question is whether it fits inside your garage. The same paragraph adds that no repair work may be done on any vehicle on the property, passenger cars included, and guest parking spaces are for visitors rather than owners, with visitor use limited to one week unless the association manager gives written permission.
The declaration never names a swimming pool. What it does say is that no improvement, alteration, excavation or change in grade, and no other work that in any way alters the site or the improvements on it from the state they were in when the builder first sold the site, may be made without the prior approval of the Architectural Control Committee. Digging a pool is all of those things, so it goes through the committee. No size, fencing or setback standards appear in the document. Ask the committee for its written rules before counting on a pool here.
Exterior work is tightly controlled. No improvement, alteration, repair, change of color, excavation or change in grade may be done without the Architectural Control Committee's prior approval, and repainting any part of the exterior a different color or shade needs that approval in writing. Nothing may be affixed to the exterior walls or roof without the board's prior consent. The committee tries to answer an application in writing within 30 days; its decision can be appealed to the board in writing within 30 days, and the board may reverse or modify it on a three-fourths vote. If the committee grants another owner's enforcement petition after a hearing, it can order a non-complying structure removed, and an unpaid fine becomes a lien on the site after 30 days. Note too that the association, not the owner, maintains the siding, guttering and roof of each dwelling unit cluster.
A satellite dish is allowed but the location has to be cleared first. Before installing one the owner completes an exterior change form and must receive approval from the association manager for where the dish goes, and the board may adopt policies regulating satellite dishes and similar devices as technology changes. Separately, no radio or television antenna may be affixed to the exterior walls or roof without the board's prior consent. Federal rules can limit how far a covenant may restrict certain antennas and dishes, so confirm a specific installation with the association.
The declaration never uses the word solar, so no clause is written specifically about panels. Three provisions still reach a roof or wall mounted installation on their own wording. First, no attachment or thing may be affixed to or placed upon the exterior walls or roofs, or any other part of a dwelling, without the board's prior consent. Second, no improvement or alteration to a dwelling unit site or the improvements on it may be made without the Architectural Control Committee's prior approval; the committee is to make reasonable effort to approve, modify or disapprove an application in writing within thirty days of receiving it, and its decision can be appealed to the board within thirty days. Third, for the clustered buildings it is the association rather than the owner that maintains the roof, including decking, shingles, joists, roof ventilation and flashing, so a roof penetration touches something the association is obliged to keep up. None of this is a yes or a no on solar; it is an approval route. Ask the board for its current position in writing before you count on panels.
Most of the yard is not the owner's to change. The association waters, fertilizes, mows and reseeds the lawn of every dwelling unit site and maintains the irrigation system and the post lights, with the cost billed back through the assessments. An owner may not remove, trim or prune any tree or shrub planted by the developer without the written approval of the Grounds Maintenance Committee, and may not plant any tree, shrub or other plant without that committee's prior approval. Flowers may only go in areas the board designates. Any addition or replacement to the original landscaping needs board approval, and the board may make the owner responsible for maintaining and replacing it. The association does not maintain plants an owner added and may remove them at its discretion.
Mailboxes are the association's, not the owner's. Installing, repairing, replacing and maintaining the mailbox structures and the mailboxes or mail receptacles attached to them, including those in the street right-of-way, is work the association furnishes and pays for out of the assessments. Nothing in the documents lets an owner choose or change a mailbox, and swapping one would be an alteration needing the Architectural Control Committee's approval. Ask the association before replacing a damaged box yourself.
Pet dogs, cats and customary household pets may be kept in a dwelling unit, provided the pet is not kept, bred or maintained for a commercial purpose and does not create a nuisance. Livestock and poultry of any kind are out. Pets go outdoors only on a leash or other restraint, and the document says tethering a pet outside the owner's site does not count as attended. Pets must be taken to a roadway or a specially designated area to relieve themselves. The owner is fully liable for any injury or damage a pet causes, and the board may require a pet security deposit, refundable when the pet is permanently removed except for damage. A pet the board judges to be causing a nuisance or unreasonable disturbance or noise has to be permanently removed within 10 days of written notice. The declaration sets no breed, size or number limit, but the board may adopt its own pet policies, so ask for the current ones.
Renting is allowed but it comes with conditions and a board that can tighten them. Any prospective owner, regular occupant or renter of adult age has to take part in the orientation program the association provides before acquiring, purchasing or renting, and every sale or occupancy agreement is conditioned on that participation. Every site and unit is to be used exclusively for single family residential purposes, and the board is expressly authorized to develop further policies on use, on controls over occupancy, and on the regulation of rental arrangements. The declaration itself sets no cap on how many units may be rented and no minimum lease term, so the live question is what rental policy the board has adopted. Get that in writing before you buy to rent.
The declaration does not name a basketball goal, but it does say no swing sets, sand boxes or recreational toys or equipment are permitted anywhere on the property unless the association provides them. A basketball hoop is recreational equipment on that wording, and the carve-out belongs to the association rather than to the owner. The same paragraph says only common areas specifically designated for recreation may be used for it, and that the lawn of a dwelling unit is in no event a recreation area. If this matters to you, ask the board in writing whether it reads a portable hoop the same way.
One sign is allowed, and only one kind. An owner may put a single standard yard sign advertising the home for sale on the lawn or in a window, and it may not exceed 18 inches by 24 inches. The board keeps the right to place for sale or for lease signs around the property for unsold or unoccupied units. A separate clause says no sign may be affixed to or placed upon the exterior walls or roof without the board's prior consent. Nothing in the document addresses political, contractor or security signs, and Indiana law protects some categories of sign regardless of a covenant, so confirm a specific sign with the association.
Street parking is limited by the clock. No car may be parked on a street for more than 12 consecutive hours, and the same person may not park on the street on successive days even if each stay is under 12 hours. Designated guest parking is for visitors rather than owners, and a visitor should keep to one week or less unless the association manager gives written permission for longer. Anything that is not a normal passenger automobile may not be stored anywhere on the property unless it is completely enclosed in a garage. The association maintains the private streets, driveways, parking areas and guest parking out of the assessments.
The declaration is unusually broad here. No industry, trade, commercial or educational activity designed for profit, altruism or otherwise may be conducted, practiced or permitted anywhere on the property, and every dwelling unit and site is to be used exclusively for single family residential purposes. On its face that wording reaches a home office as well as a visible operation, and it reaches a non-profit or a tutoring arrangement too. No approval route is written in. The board is authorized to develop further policies on use, so if a home business matters to you, get the board's written position 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 →This one is explicit, and it is stricter than most. No repair work may be done on any vehicle anywhere on the property, and the sentence says that includes passenger vehicles. The clause ends there, with no exception for routine maintenance and no carve-out for work done inside a garage or out of public view. Some neighboring declarations in this county carry extra words after passenger vehicles that limit the ban to work in plain view or allow regular maintenance. Those words are not in this recording.
All garbage, trash and refuse has to be stored in appropriate containers inside the dwelling, and the garage counts as inside. It stays there until no earlier than 5:00 a.m. on the day of the scheduled collection. It goes out in sealed disposable plastic bags or other containers, at the locations the board designates. So there is no leaving a can at the curb the night before, and no keeping one outside between pickups.
A grill is named and permitted. The clause listing what may be kept on a patio or deck includes barbecue or similar grills, along with patio furniture, plants and minimal decorative items, and it requires the patio or deck to be kept neat, clean and free of debris. That is a short list, so anything beyond those four categories is outside it. The documents say nothing about where a grill may be used or about fuel type, and this is attached and clustered housing where fire separation between units matters, so check the board's policies and local fire rules for a grill used near a wall.
This restriction is about being seen rather than about drying. Clothes, sheets, blankets, rugs, laundry and other things may not be hung out so as to be visible from any part of the common areas or limited common areas or any public street. The declaration never uses the word clothesline, sets no size or material limit and gives no approval route, so the whole test is visibility. Be realistic about how much space that leaves. The common areas here are defined as the portions of the real estate outside the lot lines and they include the private streets, the association mows every lawn, and a balcony, patio, deck, terrace, doorstep or open porch is itself defined as a limited common area, so at many homes there may be little or no outdoor spot that is out of sight of all of them. A separate clause also limits what may be kept on a patio or deck to furniture, grills, plants and minimal decorative items. A fence is possible with Architectural Control Committee approval. Walk the specific lot and ask the association how it applies this there.
The documents never use the word flag, but a flag hung outside is caught by the clause that governs outside display. Nothing, ornaments included, may be hung or displayed on the outside of windows or on an outside wall, except that wreaths and other decorative items are permitted on the front door, the porch, and the walls extending from the front porch. Anything affixed to or placed upon the exterior walls or roof needs the board's prior consent, and the board may adopt further policies on the hanging and display of outside items. A bracket-mounted flag therefore needs board consent. Federal and Indiana law protect the display of the United States flag in certain circumstances regardless of a covenant, so ask the board and confirm the current policy.
Two clauses govern windows. Window treatments, if used, have to be light coloured so the dwellings present a uniform appearance from outside. And nothing, ornaments included, may be hung or displayed on the outside of a window or on an outside wall, with wreaths and other decorative items permitted on the front door, porch and the walls extending from the front porch. No shutter may be affixed to the exterior without the board's prior consent. The board may adopt further policies on the hanging or display of outside items, so the detail is in the association's current rules.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.