What the recorded documents actually say about Ridgemont Crossing Sec 1 in Mishawaka — 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
These answers come from one recorded document: the Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations, Easements, Agreements and Charges for Home Sites 29-50, 149-158 and 194-203 of Ridgemont Crossing Planned Unit Development, Section One. It was filed with the St. Joseph County Recorder on December 13, 2005 as instrument 0557090, and it names the plat it sits on as instrument 0540313.
One recorded change goes with it. A First Amendment dated May 18, 2006 reclassifies home sites 47-50 and 199-203 as single family home sites rather than villa home sites. It was recorded twice with the same single operative sentence, first as instrument 0620664 on May 18, 2006 and again as instrument 0627771 on June 29, 2006. It is the only amendment on file here.
The document states its own reach in its title, and that reach is Section One: home sites 29-50, 149-158 and 194-203. Its signature page certifies the development then had 42 home sites, which is exactly that list, and the plat drawing attached to it is the Section One final plan. Ridgemont Crossing has home site numbers outside those ranges, and nothing in this document says it reaches them. No declaration for any other Ridgemont Crossing section is in this collection. So if your home site number falls outside 29-50, 149-158 and 194-203, treat this page as a close guide rather than as your own recorded document, and ask the St. Joseph County Recorder or a title company which declaration was recorded against your legal description.
One thing on this page is worth confirming with the association before you rely on it. Several paragraphs set different rules for a villa section identified by number as home sites 47-50 and 199-203: no perimeter fencing, no detached buildings, a pool cover requirement because pools there may not be fenced, a ban on lawn ornamentation, a monthly rather than annual assessment, and association-paid snow removal and lawn care. The 2006 amendment made those same home sites single family, and it does not say whether those villa paragraphs stopped applying to them. The documents on file do not settle it.
The copy on file is a scan of paper with no digital text, so it was read by character recognition, and every figure that carries an answer here was checked by eye against the page images.
Fencing needs the Architectural Control Committee to approve the style and location in writing before it goes up, and the material is fixed: all fencing must be PVC or a similar maintenance-free product, and wood or painted metal fences need the committee's unanimous approval. Perimeter fencing that is not privacy in nature and does not exceed four feet high may be permitted in the single family home site section, which this document lists as home sites 29-46, 149-158 and 194-198, and it is allowed only for the back yard. Privacy fencing of not more than six feet high may be built around a patio next to the home, again with prior written approval and conforming to the architectural style of that house. Home sites 156-158 may erect six foot high non-privacy fencing around the entire back yard at the committee's discretion to allow for a future in-ground swimming pool, and home sites 36-46 may erect six foot high privacy fencing along the rear lot line, though not inside a dedicated easement. Perimeter fencing is not allowed on any home site in the villa section, which the document identifies as home sites 47-50 and 199-203, and the document also says no pool may be enclosed with a fence in the villas. Separately, an approved dog exercise area of limited size tight to the side or rear of the house may have PVC fencing five or six feet high. A homeowner who places fencing inside a dedicated easement takes the risk of that placement.
A detached storage building or pet shelter may be built, but only with the Architectural Control Committee approving it in writing first, and the document caps the size at 10 feet by 12 feet. It must be quality construction, located in the rear yard, kept attractive and neat, and blend with the established home, including horizontal vinyl siding. The committee may require protective screening around it. Detached buildings are not allowed at all in the villa section, which the document identifies as home sites 47-50 and 199-203, and elsewhere they are allowed only in the area shown on the exhibit attached to the declaration, so where a shed may go is set by that drawing rather than by the text. On home sites 29-46, 149-158 and 194-198 a detached building also requires additional screen plantings. Any addition of this kind is to be finished within six months of the start of construction.
The declaration bars recreational and commercial vehicles, and it names campers, trailers, trucks and boats, from being kept in open areas in the neighborhood, whether those open areas are on or off a home site. What it does not do is define what an open area is, and it never mentions a garage either way, so a camper or a boat kept fully inside a closed garage is simply not addressed by the words on the page. Read it as a ban on keeping these vehicles out in the open anywhere in the neighborhood, with the enclosed-storage question left open. If you plan to keep an RV, a boat or a work truck at the home, that gap is worth settling with the association in writing before you buy, since the answer turns on how the association reads a term the document never defines.
Above ground pools are prohibited, and so are tennis courts. In-ground pools are permitted. On home sites 47-50 and 199-203, which this document calls the villa section, an in-ground pool must have a pool cover capable of meeting all governmental codes and regulations for safety, because the document says no pool may be enclosed with a fence in the Ridgemont Crossing Villas. Home sites 156-158 are expressly allowed six foot high non-privacy fencing around the entire back yard at the committee's discretion to allow for a future in-ground pool. A pool is construction, so it goes through the Architectural Control Committee like any other structure, and the document asks that additions of this kind be finished within six months of the start of work.
Any alteration, improvement, remodeling or maintenance that affects the exterior appearance of the home has to be submitted to and approved by the Architectural Control Committee before work starts. For new construction and for topography or drainage changes, the committee reviews plans showing the floor plan, quality of construction, materials, outside colors, how the design sits with existing homes, and the location, grades and elevations; two complete sets of prints are submitted and one comes back. Approval or disapproval is given in writing, and no change to an approved plan may be made without the committee's prior written consent. The committee is three people appointed by the developer until the neighborhood is turned over to an elected board. The document sets no deadline for the committee to answer, so timing is worth asking about. On home sites 47-50 and 199-203 the original exterior colors of any component of the house may not be changed without express written consent.
Outside above-ground television, AM, FM and short wave radio antennas of any type are prohibited. A satellite dish is treated separately: an owner may put up a direct broadcast satellite dish of not more than one meter in diameter. It must be placed, to the extent feasible, where it is not visible from the street or other common property, and the committee may require the owner to pay for shrubbery or other screening and to keep the color and the installation harmonious with the landscape and architecture, so long as those requirements do not unreasonably impair the owner's installation, maintenance or use of the system. Nothing may be installed until the Architectural Control Committee has approved the placement in writing.
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 →Yards are to be planted with grass seed or sod, and another ground cover needs the Architectural Control Committee's prior written approval. In the single family section, which the document lists as home sites 29-46, 149-158 and 194-198, that applies to the side, front and rear yards. In the villa section, home sites 47-50 and 199-203, it applies to the entire yard plus appropriate water-conserving plantings in the landscaping beds, any change to the original landscaping needs written approval, and all types of lawn ornamentation are prohibited, with fountains, bird feeders, gazing balls, benches, chairs and statuary named as examples. Grading and seeding is to be done by the time of occupancy, or if the season does not allow it, as soon as practical and no later than June 15 following occupancy. Drainage swales and easements, including road ditches, are to be left open. Owners also have to keep the lawn cut, remove debris and rubbish, and cut down and remove dead trees and stumps, and the association may enter and do that work and bill it to the home site if an owner does not. Hedges and shrubs are limited near corners and driveways by a sight-line rule.
The only mailbox provision covers the villa section, home sites 47-50 and 199-203. There the developer supplies and installs the mailbox for each home site, and the association pays to maintain it, which means the mailbox on those home sites is the one that came with the development rather than one the owner chooses. The document sets no mailbox style, material or approval requirement for the rest of the neighborhood, and it does not say what happens if a villa mailbox is damaged or an owner wants to replace it, so that is a question for the association.
Dogs, cats and other household pets may be kept. Exotic pets are excluded, no animals, livestock or poultry may be raised or bred on a home site, pets may not be kept or maintained for any commercial purpose, and they may not be allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard. Dogs must be kept on a leash, and kennels are not permitted. A dog exercise area has to be approved; the document allows one of limited size tight to the side or rear of the house, with PVC fencing five or six feet high, if the Architectural Control Committee approves it. There is no stated cap on the number of pets and no breed restriction in this document. Running a kennel, an animal hospital or a dog grooming business from the home is excluded from what counts as a permitted home occupation, though the document does allow a homeowner to care for a dog waiting for a permanent home, provided state and local laws are followed.
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 basketball hoop needs the Architectural Control Committee's prior written approval, and two separate paragraphs say so. One prohibits any sport or recreational equipment, naming basketball hoops, soccer goals, swingsets and sandboxes, without prior written permission as to the type and location of the equipment. The other prohibits sporting equipment of any kind, permanent or temporary, naming a trampoline, swing set, sand box, playground and basketball hoop, from being erected on a home site without that approval. Neither paragraph sets a height, a color, a placement rule or a standard the committee has to apply, so what gets approved appears to rest with the committee.
One sign of not more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or for rent may be displayed to public view. Political campaign signs are carved out of the general ban and are allowed, but they must come down within twenty-four hours after the election they relate to. A builder may use a sign of any dimension to advertise the property during the construction and sales period, and the developer, approved builders and their agents keep the right to put up signs to promote and sell home sites or homes in the development. Anything else displayed to public view is prohibited. Separately, a home occupation may not have a sign or display indicating the building is used for anything other than a dwelling.
There is no rule here about where an ordinary passenger car may be parked, and nothing about street parking, overnight parking or guest parking. What the document does restrict is keeping recreational and commercial vehicles, naming campers, trailers, trucks and boats, in open areas in the neighborhood, whether those open areas are on or off a home site. The term open areas is not defined and a garage is never mentioned, so that clause leaves enclosed storage unaddressed. Two related requirements shape parking in practice: every dwelling must have a full-size attached garage able to hold at least two cars and no more than three, and driveways must be at least twelve feet wide and built of asphalt, brick or concrete, with stone and cinder drives prohibited. The document also bars operating minibikes, motorcycles, go-carts, snowmobiles and similar motor-driven vehicles within the neighborhood, other than duly licensed vehicles driven by licensed drivers on dedicated public roads.
A home site is for single-family residential use, with the exception that a home occupation may be permitted. The document defines it narrowly: the work involves only a member of the immediate family living in the dwelling, stays entirely within the dwelling, and is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the home as a dwelling without changing its character. On top of that, there may be no sign or display indicating the building is used for anything other than a dwelling, no commodity may be sold on the premises, and no one may be employed other than an immediate family member living there. Named examples that do not qualify are a barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlor, tea room, fortune-telling parlor, animal hospital, and any form of animal care or treatment such as dog trimming. Caring for a dog waiting for a permanent home is allowed if state and local laws are followed. A separate nuisance paragraph says no commercial, business or professional office use may be carried on at a residential home site, with the developer and the builders excepted, so the two paragraphs should be read together.
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 →Trash, garbage, weeds and other waste must be kept only in sanitary containers, and no home site may be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish. Any incinerator or other equipment for storing or disposing of that material must be kept in a clean and sanitary condition. Owners are separately required to remove all debris or rubbish as part of keeping the home site from becoming unsightly, and if they do not, the association may come in and do it and add the cost to that home site's assessment. The document does not say where containers must be stored between collections, does not require screening, and sets no limit on how early bins may go to the curb.
The document never mentions a grill, a barbecue or cooking, either to permit it or to prohibit it. What its fires paragraph says is that no fire may burn on any street or roadway in the neighborhood, and that no open fires, including fire pits, are allowed on any home site. On the face of that wording a contained cooking grill is not an open fire and is not a fire on a street, so the paragraph does not appear to reach one, while a fire pit or an open wood fire in the yard clearly is caught. That is a reading of the words rather than something the document states, so an owner who wants certainty, particularly about a charcoal grill, could ask the association how it applies the paragraph.
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.