What the recorded documents actually say about Ridgemont Crossing Sec 3 Final PUD in Mishawaka — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
12 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 instrument: 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, filed with the St. Joseph County Recorder on December 13, 2005 as instrument 0557090. One recorded amendment goes with it, dated May 18, 2006 and recorded twice, first as instrument 0620664 and then again as instrument 0627771; it reclassifies home sites 47-50 and 199-203 as single family home sites rather than villa home sites, and it is the only change to the original declaration on file here.
The document states the ground it covers in its own title, and that ground is Section One. The plat drawing attached to it as Exhibit A is titled Ridgemont Crossing, Section One Final P.U.D., and the signature page certifies that the development then had 42 home sites, which is exactly the number of home sites the title lists.
This neighborhood is indexed under the Section 3 plat, and no Section 3 declaration is in this collection. Nothing in the Section One document says it reaches Section 3. What points the other way is that Ridgemont Crossing has one homeowners association and one architectural control committee across the development, and that both of the property listings that supplied documents here supplied this same Section One instrument, which suggests it is what the neighborhood hands out. That is a reason to think it is close, not evidence that it governs.
So if your home site is outside 29-50, 149-158 and 194-203, treat this page as a close guide rather than as your own document. The declaration recorded against your lot is a public record at the St. Joseph County Recorder, and a title company can normally name it from your legal description. The villa-section paragraphs below are a second thing worth confirming: the 2006 amendment made those home sites single family, but the villa paragraphs still name them by number, and the amendment does not say whether those paragraphs stopped applying.
Fencing is allowed but tightly specified. All fencing must be PVC or a similar maintenance-free product; wood or painted metal needs the unanimous approval of the Architectural Control Committee. Perimeter fencing that is not privacy in nature and does not exceed four feet may be permitted in the single family section, home sites 29-46, 149-158 and 194-198, with prior written approval of style and location, and only for the back yard. Privacy fencing up to six feet may be built around a patio adjacent to the home, again with prior written approval. Home sites 156-158 may put up six-foot non-privacy fencing around the whole back yard to allow for a future in-ground pool, and home sites 36-46 may put up six-foot privacy fencing along the rear lot line, both at the committee's discretion. Perimeter fencing is not allowed on any home site in the villa section. A separate sight-line rule bars any fence, wall, hedge or shrub between two and six feet high inside the corner triangle formed twenty-five feet back from a street intersection, and within ten feet of where a driveway meets the street.
A detached storage building or pet shelter is allowed only with the Architectural Control Committee's written approval before construction starts, and it may not exceed 10 feet by 12 feet. It has to be quality construction, in the rear yard, kept attractive and neat, and blend with the house, including horizontal vinyl siding. The committee may require protective screening around it. No detached buildings at all are allowed in the villa section, home sites 47-50 and 199-203, and detached buildings are allowed only in the area designated on the plat exhibit attached to the declaration. On home sites 29-46, 149-158 and 194-198 a detached building requires additional screen plantings. A separate construction rule gives six months from the start of work to finish an addition such as a storage shed.
The declaration bars recreational and commercial vehicles, naming campers, trailers, trucks and boats, from being kept in open areas in the neighborhood, whether those open areas are on or off the owner's home site. The document does not define what an open area is, and it never mentions a garage in this paragraph either way, so a vehicle inside a closed garage is genuinely unaddressed by the wording. What is clear is that keeping one out in the open on the lot, or elsewhere in the neighborhood, is prohibited. A separate paragraph bars minibikes, motorcycles, go-carts, snowmobiles and similar motor-driven vehicles from being operated within the neighborhood, except licensed motor vehicles driven by licensed drivers on dedicated public roads. Anyone planning to keep a camper, boat or trailer here should get the association's own reading in writing before buying.
Above-ground pools are not permitted, and neither are tennis courts. In-ground pools are permitted. On home sites 47-50 and 199-203 an in-ground pool must have a pool cover meeting all governmental safety codes, because the declaration does not allow a pool on those home sites to be enclosed with a fence. A pool is also an addition to the property, so the six-month completion rule and the architectural approval process apply, and home sites 156-158 are separately allowed six-foot non-privacy back yard fencing to allow for a future in-ground pool.
Any alteration, improvement, remodeling or maintenance of a house that affects its exterior appearance must be submitted to and approved by the Architectural Control Committee before any work begins. The same committee approves new construction and any change in topography or drainage, and it wants two complete sets of prints showing floor plan, quality of construction, materials, outside colors, harmony with existing structures, and placement relative to lot lines and grade. Approval or disapproval is given in writing, and no change to approved plans may be made without further written consent. In the villa section, home sites 47-50 and 199-203, no owner may change the original exterior colors of any component of the house without the committee's express written consent. The committee is three people appointed by the developer until the neighborhood is turned over to an elected board.
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 no 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 Architectural Control Committee may require the owner to pay for shrubbery or other screening and to keep the color and 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 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 must be planted in grass seed or sod unless the Architectural Control Committee has given prior written approval for a different ground cover. Grading and seeding has to be done by the time of occupancy, or as soon as practical and no later than June 15 following occupancy if the season does not allow it, and it may not be done in a way that hinders drainage or the natural flow of surface water. Drainage swales, drainage easements and road ditches must be left open and not filled. In the villa section, home sites 47-50 and 199-203, the rule is stricter: the entire yard must be grass seed or sod with appropriate water-conserving plantings in the landscaping beds, all types of lawn ornamentation are prohibited, including fountains, bird feeders, gazing balls, benches or chairs or statuary, and any change to the original landscaping put in by the homebuilder or developer needs written committee approval. Owners are separately required to keep the lawn mowed, remove debris and rubbish, and cut down and remove dead trees and stumps, and the association may enter and do the work at the owner's cost if they do not.
Mailboxes are addressed for the villa section only. The declaration says the developer supplies and installs the mailbox for each home site numbered 47-50 and 199-203, and that maintaining them is an association expense, so those boxes are a supplied standard rather than an owner's choice. The document says nothing about mailboxes for the rest of the home sites it covers, and it does not set out a process for replacing or changing one. Ask the association what it expects today.
Dogs, cats and other household pets may be kept, but not exotic pets, and not if they are kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose or become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard. No animals, livestock or poultry of any other kind may be raised, bred or kept. Dogs must be kept on a leash and no kennels are permitted. A dog exercise area has to be approved, and where approved it may have PVC fencing five or six feet high tight to the side or rear of the house, at the Architectural Control Committee's discretion. There is one express allowance: a homeowner who gives temporary care to a dog waiting for a permanent home may do so, provided they follow all applicable state and local laws. The declaration sets no numeric limit on how many pets a household may have.
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 before it goes up, and the committee approves the type and the location. The declaration says this twice, once for sport and recreational equipment generally, naming basketball hoops, soccer goals, swingsets and sandboxes, and again for sporting equipment of any kind, whether permanent or temporary, naming a trampoline, swing set, sand box, playground and basketball hoop. No size, height, color or placement standard is written down, so what the committee will approve is a question for the association.
No sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a home site, with three exceptions. Political campaign signs are excepted, though they have to come down within twenty-four hours after the election they relate to. One sign of not more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or rent is allowed. A builder may use a sign of any size to advertise the property during the construction and sales period, and the developer and approved builders keep the right to put up whatever signs they want to promote sales in the development.
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 home site may be used only as a single-family residence, with the exception that a home occupation may be permitted. To qualify, the occupation must involve only a member of the immediate family living in the dwelling, stay entirely within the dwelling, and be clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling without changing its character. It may have no sign or display indicating the building is used for anything but a home, no commodity sold on the premises, and no employee other than an immediate family member living there. A barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlor, tea room, fortune-telling parlor, animal hospital, or any form of animal care or treatment such as dog trimming is expressly not a home occupation. A separate nuisance paragraph states more broadly that no commercial, business or professional office uses may be conducted on a residential home site, apart from the developer and builders using home sites for sales and construction. The two paragraphs pull in different directions on how much room a home occupation really has, and the document does not reconcile them.
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 →A home site may not be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish. Trash, garbage, weeds and other waste must be kept only in sanitary containers, and any incinerator or other equipment for storing or disposing of it must be kept clean and sanitary. Owners are separately required to remove all debris and rubbish as part of keeping the home site from becoming unsightly. The declaration sets no collection day, no screening requirement and no rule about where a container may sit between pickups.
The declaration has a fires paragraph, and it never names a grill either way. What it 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. A contained cooking grill is not an open fire on the face of that wording, so the ban does not obviously reach one, but a fire pit or an open cooking fire clearly is caught. A separate paragraph allows portable government-approved containers for LP gas and gasoline used for household purposes, which is what a propane grill tank is. If you plan to use an open flame outdoors, ask the association where it draws the line before you rely on it.
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.