What the recorded documents actually say about Meadow Glen West 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 Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations and Easements for Meadow Glen West, Section One, recorded with the Elkhart County Recorder on August 13, 2004 as Instrument No. 2004-27589, together with its two recorded amendments: the First Amendment (Instrument No. 2006-20255), which added Meadow Glen West, Section Two, and the Second Amendment (Instrument No. 2007-28338), which added Meadow Glen West, Section Three.
Both amendments state plainly that the added land is made subject to the same covenants and that owners in those sections are members of the same association, and the First Amendment renamed the covenants to cover all real estate now part of the subdivision or added to it later. So one set of rules governs all three sections, and the answers above apply across them.
Check your lot number against the list. Section One covers Lots 1 through 24, plus 99, 100, and 139 through 150. Section Two covers Lots 25 through 27, 95 through 98, 101 through 104, 135 through 138, and 151 through 172. Section Three covers Lots 28 through 32, 89 through 94, 105 through 109, 121 through 134, and 173 through 183. Numbers in between, such as 33 through 88 and 110 through 120, are not named in any instrument we have, and the developer reserved the right to add more land later. If your lot number is not on that list, ask the title company which plat and which recorded covenants apply to it before you rely on this page.
One caution about the paperwork on file for this neighborhood: it also contains an older set of covenants for Meadow Glen Estates, which is a separate subdivision with its own association. None of the answers above come from it. Finally, these covenants can be amended by owners of seventy-five percent of the lots, so have the title company confirm nothing has been recorded since 2007.
Fences are allowed with limits and written approval. No fence may sit closer to any street than the rear of the house. Perimeter fencing is capped at five feet. A privacy fence is permitted only around the immediate patio and only up to six feet. Whatever you build has to match the architectural standards set by the style of the home, and the Architectural Control Committee has to approve it in writing, or grant a written variance. Separately, no fence, wall, hedge or shrub may block the sight lines between two and six feet high in the corner triangle twenty-five feet back from a street intersection, or within ten feet of where a driveway meets a street.
A detached storage building or a pet shelter is allowed for lawn tools, toys, pool equipment or other personal property. It has to be quality construction, kept in neat and attractive condition, and blend with the home, and the plans go to the Architectural Control Committee for approval before construction starts. The Committee can also require screening to be planted around it. The covenants set no size or height limit on a detached building.
You can keep a boat, motor home, trailer or other recreational vehicle on your lot, but not within thirty-five feet of the front lot line, which in practice pushes it back beside or behind the house. On the street, no vehicle, boat or structure of any kind may stay parked longer than seven consecutive days. The covenants do not require a camper to be screened or garaged, and they set no separate size limit.
Pools are allowed with written approval. The covenants treat a pool the same way they treat a tennis court: it may not be built or installed until the Architectural Control Committee has approved the plans and specifications in writing. There is no distinction drawn between above-ground and in-ground, and no separate fencing or setback rule for a pool beyond the general fence rule.
Nothing may be built, placed, altered or regraded on a lot until the Architectural Control Committee has approved the construction plans. The plans have to show the floor plan, quality of construction, materials, outside colors, how the design fits the existing homes, and the location, topography and finish grades, and two complete sets go in. Approval or disapproval comes in writing, and no change from an approved plan may be made without the Committee's prior written consent. The covenants also set the build standards themselves: one single-family home no more than two and a half stories, an attached garage for two to three cars, and minimum living area that runs from 900 square feet for a ranch to 1,400 for a bi-level.
Exposed or exterior radio and television antennas are prohibited, and so is any dish larger than eighteen inches across. The ban is written to catch dishes over eighteen inches, so a smaller dish is not caught by those words. The covenants also say that waiving the rule for one lot does not waive it for any other, which tells you waivers are handled lot by lot. Federal rules on antenna installation can also bear on this, so it is worth asking the association how they apply it today.
Solar is addressed directly and is not banned. Both the installation and the location of solar panels have to be approved in writing by the Architectural Control Committee before construction. The covenants set no limit on size, roof placement or ground mounting, so the Committee's written approval is the whole of the test as the document writes it.
Front, side and rear yards have to be planted with grass seed, sod or ground cover within 120 days after the house is finished or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the Committee approves something else. Altering the topography or drainage of a lot needs Committee approval, and drainage swales may not be regraded in a way that changes how stormwater runs off. Where the plat shows a protective screening area marked as a non-access easement, the owner has to keep the plantings up at their own expense. No screen planting over thirty-six inches high is permitted between the building setback line and the lot line, and trees and shrubs cannot block the sight lines at intersections 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 →Dogs, cats and pet birds are allowed in reasonable numbers as household pets. No other animals, birds or fowl may be kept, nothing may be kept or bred for a commercial purpose, and no savage or dangerous animal is permitted. A dog may not run at large unless it is in a permitted dog run or a fenced yard, or on a leash no longer than eight feet with someone holding it. Cats are not to be let loose outside the owner's own yard. Owners have to clean up after their pets, are fully responsible for damage, and a dog that barks frequently or continuously may not be kept. The association may require pets to be registered and may add further reasonable pet rules.
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 →One sign is allowed on a lot, no larger than five square feet, and only to advertise the property for sale or for rent. A builder may use a sign of any size during construction and the sales period, and the developer kept the right to put up its own signs to promote lot and home sales. The covenants say nothing about political or contractor signs.
Nothing may stay parked on the street longer than seven consecutive days, and that applies to vehicles, boats and structures of any kind, movable or not. Any vehicle on blocks or without a current license plate has to be kept inside an enclosed garage. Every home is required to have an attached garage that holds at least two cars and no more than three, and driveways have to be concrete, at least sixteen feet wide and four inches thick, with stone and cinder driveways prohibited.
A home occupation is permitted, but the definition is narrow. The work has to be done entirely inside the home and carried on only by a member of the immediate family living there, and it has to stay clearly incidental to using the house as a home. There can be no sign or display visible from outside, no goods sold on the premises, no employee who is not an immediate family member living there, and no mechanical or electrical equipment. The covenants also name businesses that can never qualify: a barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlor, tea room, fortune-teller parlor, animal hospital, or any form of animal care or grooming.
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 →A vehicle on blocks, or one without a current license plate, may not be stored outside an enclosed garage at any time, which means a project car has to be inside the garage rather than in the driveway. The covenants do not otherwise address repairing, servicing or dismantling a vehicle, and they set no time limit on work done inside a garage.
Trash, garbage and other waste have to be kept in sanitary containers, and a lot may not be used as a dumping ground for rubbish. Any incinerator or other equipment for storing or disposing of waste has to be kept clean and sanitary. The association is given the power to enforce the rules on accumulations of rubbish, weeds and trash. The covenants set no screening rule and no day for putting cans at the curb.
The covenants never mention grills either way. The only fire rule bans a fire burning on a street or roadway in the subdivision, which on the face of that wording does not reach a contained grill on your own lot. The general nuisance rule, which bars anything that becomes an annoyance in the neighborhood, is the other clause a complaint about smoke would be argued under.
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.