What the recorded documents actually say about River Wood Landing in Osceola — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
4 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 recorded Declaration of Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations and Easements of River Wood Landing, recorded in St. Joseph County on May 26, 2015 as Instrument No. 1512565 and dated as of December 1, 2014. It expressly replaces the earlier Villas @ Vistula Landing covenants, Document 0714198, and says those are of no further force and effect. The copy on file is a scan of paper, so individual words can be misread.
The Declaration covers the land shown on the plat of River Wood Landing Subdivision, recorded September 3, 2009 as document No. 0929671, and it expressly excludes Lot 14A. The lots are numbered 1A through 6A and 15A through 34A. If the home you are looking at is Lot 14A, this Declaration says it does not apply, and you should ask the title company what governs that lot instead.
Several rules apply only to river lots, meaning a lot next to the St. Joseph River. Those lots get no yard fences at all, a larger minimum house size, and a separate set of rules for seawalls, docks and piers. Confirm with the listing agent or the title company whether the lot you are considering is a river lot before you rely on any answer here.
The Declaration names no dues figure. A seller disclosure form in this file, signed in March 2026, reports recurring dues of $575.00 payable quarterly, with no upcoming assessments. That is one seller's statement about one home, not a recorded number, so confirm the current amount with the Association.
The plat is referenced as an exhibit to the Declaration but is not part of the recorded copy on file here, so lot lines, easements and the platted setback lines were not available to read. Order the plat and a current title commitment from the Recorder or the title company before relying on any boundary or setback.
Perimeter fencing only, and it has to be approved by the Architectural Control Committee in writing before it goes in. The document says no fencing other than perimeter fencing is permitted, that fencing must use wood posts and rails or a maintenance-free material, and that the material must be a natural color and not galvanized steel. Whole-yard privacy fences are not permitted, and no yard fences at all are allowed on river lots. Swimming pool fencing is allowed around the pool area only, with no part more than 2 inches in diameter and a minimum of 4 inch spacing between parts. A separate sight-line rule bars any fence, wall, hedge or shrub between 2 and 6 feet above the roadway inside the 25-foot triangle at a corner lot's street intersection, and within 10 feet of where a driveway meets the street.
Detached storage buildings are prohibited. The declaration bars any detached storage or pet-shelter structure used to hold lawn tools, toys, swimming pool apparatus or any other personal property. A separate paragraph bars moving in, assembling, constructing or using a shack, garage, barn, outbuilding, tent, trailer or any structure of a temporary character on a lot or on the subdivision roads, temporarily or permanently. If a prohibited structure is not removed within five days of written notice, the Association may remove it at the owner's cost and enforce that cost as a lien against the lot.
The declaration says recreational and commercial vehicles, naming campers, school buses, trailers, trucks and boats, may not be kept in open areas in the subdivision, whether those open areas are on or off the owner's lot. It never defines what an open area is, and it never mentions a garage either way, so where one of these vehicles may sit when it is not in an open area is simply not addressed. Every home is separately required to have a full-size attached garage able to hold at least two and no more than four cars, but the document does not say what may be kept inside it. If this matters to you, get the Association's position in writing before you buy rather than assuming either reading.
Above-ground pools are prohibited outright, named in the same paragraph as tents, shacks, barns and outbuildings. The declaration does not name in-ground pools anywhere. It does require written Committee approval of plans before any structure is erected, constructed, placed, maintained or altered on a lot, and before the natural topography or drainage of a lot is altered. Pool fencing is allowed around the pool area only, with no part more than 2 inches in diameter and a minimum of 4 inch spacing between parts. Pool equipment cannot be kept in a detached building, because detached storage structures are not permitted.
Nothing may be built, placed or altered on a lot, and the lot's natural topography or drainage may not be changed, until the Architectural Control Committee approves the construction plans. Plans must show the floor plan, quality of construction, materials, the outside colors to be used, how the external design sits with existing homes, and the location relative to lot lines, topography and finish grade elevations. One full-size hard copy goes to the developer's office and a PDF copy is sent electronically; approval or disapproval is in writing. The declaration says the Committee's decision is entirely within its discretion, and it sets no deadline for an answer. Build standards are specific: at least 25 percent masonry veneer on the front, a full-size attached garage for two to four cars, masonry chimneys with direct-vent fireplaces permitted, a driveway at least 12 feet wide in brick or concrete and at least 4 inches thick if concrete, exposed lower-level walls sided to match the house with any retaining wing wall faced in brick or stone, and at least one automatic post light in the front yard. The paragraph on circular drives gives two different minimum widths, 8 feet in one sentence and 10 feet in another. Minimum living area runs 1,800 square feet for a ranch, 2,000 for a one-and-a-half story and 2,200 for a two-story on ordinary lots, and 2,200 and 2,400 respectively on river lots, in each case excluding basements, lower levels, one-story open porches and garages.
Read this one closely, because the heading and the rule do not line up. The paragraph is headed Utilities, Television Antennas and Satellite Dishes, and its first subsection is headed Antennas and Satellite Dishes. But the sentence that actually creates the ban names only outside above-ground AM, FM and short wave radio antennas of any type, which may not be erected or maintained on any lot or structure in the subdivision. A satellite dish is not named in that sentence, so the document does not squarely say yes or no to one. A separate paragraph requires Committee approval before any structure is erected, constructed, placed, maintained or altered on a lot. Get the Association's answer in writing before mounting a dish. Violations of the antenna paragraph are subject to the declaration's enforcement remedies, which include removal at the owner's cost and a lien.
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 →Landscaping is regulated and partly required. By the time the home is finished, and in no event later than first occupancy or transfer of title, the owner must plant at least two deciduous, ornamental or shade trees of 2 inch diameter or greater in the front yard. Side, front and rear yards must be planted with grass seed, sod or ground cover before the home is finished or occupied, whichever comes first. Every owner must connect to and use the subdivision irrigation system, and must maintain the trees on the lot, including pruning and removing any that are dead, unsightly or a safety hazard to neighboring lots or common areas. When a home is sited, the plans must account for saving as many high-quality trees as possible in the Committee's judgment, and must describe erosion control measures meeting the county soil and water district guidelines and the developer's erosion control plan. No permanent plantings are allowed in platted easements, and the grading of drainage swales may not be changed. The Association has been providing mowing and semi-annual pruning and fertilizing as a billed optional service and may stop on thirty days notice.
Each lot must have a permanently installed residential personal mailbox, kept in good condition and repair at all times, and it must conform to the design criteria the Architectural Control Committee adopts. The declaration does not print the design itself, so ask the Association for the current mailbox specification before replacing one. Every home must also have at least one residential post light in the front yard operating automatically by an electronic eye.
Dogs, cats and other household pets are allowed, with conditions. No animals, livestock or poultry of any kind may be raised, bred or kept on a lot, except household pets that are not kept, bred or maintained for commercial purposes and do not become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard, as the Committee determines. The declaration sets no numeric limit and names no breeds. All pets must be on a leash or otherwise confined to the owner's lot, and the owner must clean up after any pet the owner keeps or hosts. Pets may not be kept in a pen or a separate structure, and may not be chained outside; the detached-buildings paragraph separately bars any pet-shelter structure.
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 →Signs are limited to three kinds. One sign of not more than 5 square feet advertising the property for sale is allowed. A builder may use a sign of any size to advertise the property during the construction and sales period. Political signs may go up no more than 30 days before an election and must come down within one day after it. Anything else displayed to public view on a lot is prohibited. The developer separately reserved the right to put up whatever signs it wants to promote lot and home sales. The home-occupation rule also bars any sign or display showing from the outside that the home is used for anything other than a dwelling.
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 occupation is permitted, inside a narrow definition. It has to be conducted entirely within the home and carried on solely by a member of the immediate family living there, and it has to be clearly incidental and secondary to using the house as a house. Four conditions come with it: no sign or display may show from the outside that the building is used for anything other than a dwelling; no commodity may be sold on the premises; no one may be employed other than an immediate family member living there; and no mechanical or electrical equipment may be used. The declaration then names uses that do not qualify as a home occupation at all: 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.
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 and other waste must be kept in sanitary containers, and all equipment for storing or disposing of it has to be kept clean and sanitary inside the garage or the home. No lot may be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish or for dumping grass clippings and other landscaping debris, and that applies to a vacant lot as well as one with a house on it. Incinerators may not be used. The declaration names no collection schedule and says nothing about when containers may be at the curb.
The declaration never names a grill. Its fires paragraph reaches only streets and roadways in the subdivision, where no fire may burn other than a personal fire pit used only for burning wood. On the face of that wording, a cooking grill on your own lot is not what the paragraph addresses, and a wood-burning fire pit is expressly contemplated. A separate nuisance paragraph bars any noxious or offensive activity and anything that may become an annoyance or nuisance in the neighborhood, as determined by the Committee, so a persistent smoke complaint could be raised under that instead. Ask the Association if you want certainty.
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.