What the recorded documents actually say about Meadow Wood in South Bend — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
6 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
THIS IS SECTION 1 - lots 1 through 4, 20, 21, 44 and 45. Later sections of Meadow Wood were platted separately and may carry their own recorded covenants, so check which section your lot sits in. Meadow Wood is on SEPTIC: each house carries its own sanitary septic tank, installed at the owner's expense and approved by the county, and no other sewage disposal is permitted - budget an inspection into any offer. Two rules here are friendlier than the county norm and worth knowing: a boat or camper may be stored on the lot as long as it sits behind the front building setback line, and above-ground pools are not banned outright, just put through committee approval like everything else.
No fence may be built closer to a street than the REAR of the house - so nothing forward of the back building line. Perimeter fencing may not exceed four feet. A privacy fence up to six feet is allowed around the immediate patio, matching the architectural standard set by the style of the house and approved in writing by the architectural control committee, unless the committee grants a written variance. On a corner lot nothing between two and six feet above the roadway may block the sight triangle.
A detached storage building or pet shelter for lawn tools, toys, pool equipment or pets is allowed if it is quality construction, kept attractive and neat, blends with the house, and goes to the architectural control committee for approval before construction starts. The committee may require protective screening around it. No trailer, modular, manufactured or prebuilt home, basement, tent, shack, barn or temporary structure may be moved onto or built on a lot and lived in.
More workable than a flat ban. Boats, motor homes, trailers and other recreational vehicles may be STORED on the lot, as long as they sit no closer to the front lot line than the minimum building setback line on the recorded plat - so behind the front of the house, effectively. What is not allowed: leaving any vehicle, boat or structure parked on the street for more than SEVEN consecutive days.
Neither a pool nor a tennis court may be built or installed on a lot until the plans and specifications have been approved in writing. Unlike most covenants in the county, this one does NOT ban above-ground pools outright - it puts everything through approval instead, so the committee's answer is the whole rule here.
Nothing is built, placed, altered or re-graded until the architectural control committee approves the plans - floor plan, quality of construction, materials, exterior colours, how the design sits with the houses already there, and placement against the lot lines, topography and finish grade. Two complete sets go in, one kept and one returned. Anything begun is finished within a year or removed. Every lot carries a dusk-to-dawn post light on an electric eye, of a type the committee approves, in front of the front setback line. Lots may not be subdivided to build a second house.
As written this is a blanket ban: no exposed or exterior radio or television transmission or receiving antenna, dish or other device may be put up or kept on any lot. The covenant adds that a waiver granted on one lot does not waive the rule for any other lot, so a neighbour's dish is not a precedent. Federal rules on over-the-air reception devices limit how far a private covenant can restrict a dish of one meter or less on property in your own exclusive use and control, so ask the association before assuming the ban binds as written.
One of the few covenants in this directory that addresses solar at all, and it is short: the installation AND the location must be approved in writing by the developer before construction. In practice that approval now runs through the association, so ask the board who holds it. Indiana law limits how far a covenant can restrict a solar energy system, so an outright refusal is worth a second conversation.
Side, front and rear yards are planted with grass seed, sod or ground cover within 120 days of the house being finished or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the committee approves otherwise. Nothing permanent may be built on the platted easements apart from the screening the covenant allows, and the grading of a drainage swale may not be changed. On a corner lot nothing between two and six feet above the roadway may block the sight triangle.
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 may be kept in reasonable numbers for the household's own use - the covenant names birds specifically, which most do not. Nothing may be kept or bred commercially, and every animal gets enough care and restraint that it is not offensive for noise, odour or unsanitary conditions. A dog may not run at large: it has to be inside a permitted dog run or a fenced yard, or with someone holding it firmly by collar and leash, and the LEASH MAY NOT EXCEED EIGHT FEET. Livestock and other fowl may not be kept.
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 of no more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or rent, plus a builder's sign of any size during the construction and sales period.
Driveways have to be at least twelve feet wide, asphalt at least three inches thick or concrete at least four inches. Stone and cinder driveways are not permitted. A circular drive in front of the house may be as narrow as eight feet. Nothing - vehicle, boat or structure - may stay parked on the street for more than seven consecutive days, and no unlicensed or blocked-up vehicle may sit outside a garage at all.
A home occupation is allowed if it is carried on entirely inside the house and stays clearly secondary to living there, with no sign or display visible from outside, no commodity sold on the premises, and nobody employed from outside the immediate family living there. Every lot is otherwise restricted to single-family residential use.
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 →Stated plainly: no vehicle on blocks, and no vehicle without a current license plate, may be stored outside an enclosed garage on any lot at any time. A project car has to live in the garage.
Oil and fuel storage tanks go underground or are concealed inside the house, the basement or the attached garage. Animals are kept so that they create no odour or unsanitary condition.
No fire may be allowed to burn on any street or roadway in the subdivision. A fire on your own lot is not addressed.
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.