What the recorded documents actually say about Songbird Creek in Bristol — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
8 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
Which homes these answers cover. Songbird Creek was platted in two sections and one set of covenants governs both. The rules below come from the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions of Songbird Creek, made November 27, 2001 by Songbird Development Group, Inc. and recorded with the Elkhart County Recorder on December 6, 2001 as Instrument Number 2001-39753, which covers the Section 1 plat recorded in Plat Book 27, page 42. A later recording, Instrument Number 2005-06749, placed the Section 2 lots in Plat Book 28, page 51 under those same covenants rather than writing new ones for them, so a buyer in either section is reading the same rules. Two recorded amendments are folded into the answers: Instrument Number 2002-25563, from July 2002, which changed where a detached storage building may sit, and Instrument Number 2007-35150, recorded December 26, 2007, in which the association removed the paragraph that had delayed assessments until a homesite was developed and occupied. That 2007 amendment states the subdivision had 38 homesites at the time it was signed.
What is not in the copy on file. The 2007 amendment refers to turnover documents recorded as Instrument Numbers 2007-27798 and 2007-27799, and those are not in this file. Neither are the association's bylaws or its articles of incorporation, which the declaration relies on for meetings, voting, budgets, fines and additional assessment procedure. Anything recorded after December 2007 would not be visible here either. The Elkhart County Recorder or your title company can pull all of them, and a current statement from the association is still the right final check before you rely on any answer below.
Topics this declaration simply does not address. It says nothing about solar panels or collectors, nothing about flags or flagpoles, nothing about window coverings or window decoration, and nothing about repairing, dismantling or servicing a vehicle. It is a 2001 document and predates most of those as common covenant topics. Anything mounted on the outside of a house would still go through the architectural approval paragraph, and short-term renting is unaddressed because the only lease rule here reaches leases longer than one year.
One question worth asking the association. The declaration says the Architectural Control Committee's authority expires fifteen years after the plat for the affected homesite was recorded. Section 1 was platted in November 2001 and Section 2 in June 2003, so on the face of the document both of those fifteen-year windows have run. Many of the answers below route approval through that committee, so how approvals are handled today is worth confirming in writing.
How these answers were read. This page is written from the full 40-page scan of the recorded documents, read start to finish, rather than from the condensed version this directory works from by default. The difference is real here: the condensed version had quietly dropped part of the declaration, including the eleventh numbered restriction, which requires a dwelling once begun to be completed within eight (8) months or thereafter completely removed. Nothing in the condensed version said so. Six pages were also checked by eye against the scanned images, to settle the recording numbers and to confirm the figures that carry a rule, among them the five-foot fence height, the eighteen-inch satellite dish and the two-pet limit. The recorded copies are scans of paper with no digital text, so individual words can be misread; the quoted wording under each answer is what the scan shows.
Fences are back-yard only and capped at five feet. The declaration lists the criteria: height not over five (5) feet; white or tan, in weather resistant material, primarily plastic, vinyl or similar, that does not need painting or regular upkeep; placed to the back of the lot from the rear building line, so a fence sits at or behind the back wall of the house; kept out of utility easements; and no perimeter fencing of any type in front of the rear building line. A fence must also be placed so the owner can still get at the yard and landscaping to maintain it. Anything outside those criteria is permitted only after a written request to the Architectural Control Committee and the committee's written approval of the variation. Invisible pet fences are separately permitted, with installation, upkeep, cost and all risk on the owner, including damage or removal from utility work. The owner stays responsible for a fence's structure, use and appearance, and the declaration disclaims any responsibility on the part of the developer, the committee or the association.
An ordinary tool shed or storage shed is on the prohibited list, but the declaration creates one route to a detached building: a free-standing Storage Unit. The prohibition covers any structure of a temporary character and any trailer, mobile home, tent, shack, garage, barn, tool shed, storage shed or other outbuilding of any type, with a construction trailer during building the only exception. A Storage Unit must be approved by the Architectural Control Committee as part of the plans for the house, or an amendment or supplement to them, and must be compatible in size and style with the homesite, with the size held down the smaller the house or the lot. It has to be built on a permanent concrete foundation, and its siding, roof, exterior doors, exterior windows, lighting and other materials must match the house in type, color, style, quality and finish. It may not obstruct the general and expected sight lines and views from neighboring homes, and any vehicular drive to it must be concrete. On placement, the 2002 amendment replaced the original wording with this: a Storage Unit may be located no closer than twenty (20) feet from the rear building line, never closer to the front boundary than the rear building line, and never toward a side yard. General storage for lawn equipment, sporting equipment and excess furnishings is supposed to be built into the garage or basement.
The declaration sets a time limit rather than an outright ban: no snowmobiles, recreational vehicles, motorcycles or dune buggies may be parked on any homesite for longer than forty-eight (48) hours. It does not name boats, and it does not say anything either way about a closed garage, so where a camper may sit past that window is genuinely unaddressed. Separately, the same paragraph puts any trailer on the list of things that may not be used or placed on a homesite at any time, temporarily or permanently, with a construction trailer during building the only exception, and it bars using a homesite for storage of motor vehicles. Every house here is required to have a full-size attached garage sized for at least two and not more than three cars, between 484 and 900 square feet. If you plan to keep a camper, trailer or boat at the house, that is worth putting to the association in writing before you buy.
Above ground pools and tennis courts are not permitted. An in-ground pool may be built only after prior written approval from the Architectural Control Committee, and that approval covers the design, appearance and location of the pool. The committee also has to review and approve the design, location and planned construction method for a pool fence to segregate the pool, and that fence must at a minimum meet the general fencing criteria, which cap height at five feet and limit color and material. The declaration says a pool also has to meet the applicable zoning, development, health and safety standards, plus whatever else the committee requires, and that privacy and security are goals of any pool plan.
Nothing is built, placed, altered or regraded without written approval first. No dwelling, structure or improvement may be erected, constructed, placed, maintained or altered, and the natural topography or drainage of a homesite may not be altered, until the builder and the construction plans, including landscaping, have been approved by the Architectural Control Committee. Two complete sets of plans go in, showing floor plan, exterior type and finish, materials, outside colors, harmony of external design with existing structures, and location relative to lot lines. Approval or disapproval comes in writing, nothing that does not comply fully with the approved plans may be built or kept, and no deviation from approved plans is allowed without the committee's prior written consent. Awnings need committee approval as well, and chimneys and fireplaces must be masonry with location and style under the same control. One timing point worth raising with the association: the declaration says the committee's authority expires fifteen (15) years after the plat for the affected homesite was recorded. Section 1 was platted in November 2001 and Section 2 in June 2003, so on the face of the document those windows have run, and how approvals are handled today is a question for the association rather than something this document answers.
All public utility service, in the streets or on a lot, including electric, gas, telephone and cable television, must be underground and not visible. The declaration then carves out a satellite dish: it is permitted if it does not exceed eighteen (18) inches in circumference, which is the measurement word the document itself uses, and it must sit in the perimeter landscape portion of the lot with at least three (3) complementary shrubs or bushes next to it. If the direction the dish needs cannot be had from the perimeter landscaping, a clump-like landscaping area has to be created, with an artificial rock or another committee-approved device covering the dish. The declaration says the dish may never be on a roof, or on any other part of the house or its porches, breezeways or garage, if it would be visible from the street or from another homesite in or next to Songbird Creek. Over-the-air television antennas are not separately addressed beyond that underground-utilities requirement.
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 approved up front and then maintained to the approved plan. Lawn and landscaping plans go to the Architectural Control Committee in two sets, with the location, type, size and variety of trees, shrubs and plants, and must be approved in writing before construction of the house and that landscaping begins. Lawns and landscaping have to be installed within six (6) months of occupancy. Every lot must have a lawn irrigation system, approved by the committee, serving the entire lot, except for areas the committee has approved to remain naturally wooded or in other vegetation. Existing trees on a homesite must remain, be maintained by the owner, and be replaced by the owner if they die or are damaged, because the declaration treats them as screening for that lot and for neighboring property. Lots next to the Washington Township Ditch with banks or slopes abutting it must establish or maintain vegetation there to control erosion. All lawns and landscaping must be cut and neatly maintained. Gardens are permitted with limits: vegetable, fruit and flower gardens up to five hundred (500) square feet, vegetation no taller than six (6) feet, set back at least five feet from neighboring side yards and fifteen feet from rear yards, never in a front yard, nothing raised for commercial sale, no compost mounds left to accumulate, and no sprinkler or shade structures, lean-tos or other structures.
Every house has to have a mailbox, kept in good working order and condition and maintained aesthetically at all times by the owner. The declaration leaves the specification to the Architectural Control Committee, which is directed to set standards for size, color and style, requiring neutral colors and consistency with the rest of the development. The document itself names no model or vendor, so the current standard is something to ask the association for before replacing one.
Dogs, cats and other household pets are allowed, with a hard cap: no more than two (2) pets per house at any time. No animals, livestock or poultry of any kind may be raised, bred or kept otherwise. Pets may not be kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose, and may not be permitted to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard in any manner. The paragraph ends there, so this declaration names no breed restriction, no weight limit and no leash rule of its own.
A lease of more than one (1) year needs prior approval from the association. A lease of a year or less is not addressed, so nothing in this document requires approval for one. Whatever the term, the owner of the homesite stays responsible for all assessments, and a tenant becomes jointly and severally responsible for assessments coming due during the lease or while the tenant is using the home.
The declaration never names a basketball goal. What it has is a paragraph headed Swing Sets and Sandboxes whose opening sentence reaches all exterior play or leisure equipment: it must remain in good repair and be properly maintained, as must the lawn and landscaping around it, and none of it may be permitted to become a visual annoyance to the neighborhood. The location limits in the same paragraph are written for such swing sets, sandboxes or similar equipment, and then for such equipment generally: nothing nearer than ten (10) feet to any rear or side property line, and nothing located closer to the street or right-of-way than the rear part of the building line. A goal mounted at a driveway sits in front of that line, so whether this paragraph is meant to catch one is a fair question to put to the association or the Architectural Control Committee, because the document does not settle it. A permanent pole would also be an improvement under the architectural approval paragraph.
One for-sale sign, and it has a size cap. No sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a homesite except one (1) sign of not more than eight (8) square feet advertising the property for sale, or a sign of reasonable dimension used by builders to advertise during the construction and sales periods. The developer separately reserved the right to put up its own signs to promote and sell lots, whatever the other signage limits say. Political, contractor, security and holiday signs are not addressed, so this document is silent on them rather than permitting them.
Overnight on-street parking is prohibited, and the declaration defines the term: any continuous parking of a motor vehicle or similar mobile device on a public street in Songbird Creek from on or before 12:00 midnight through the following 5:00 a.m. On-street parking otherwise is left to the Elkhart County highway authorities, and the declaration states a duty on every owner to avoid unnecessary parking or congestion on the public streets. Off the street, driveways have to be concrete, at least sixteen (16) feet wide, four inches thick on a six-bag limestone mix; stone, cinder and asphalt driveways are not permitted, and parking areas may not be gravel, dirt, cinder or rock and must be the same material as the driveway. The vehicle paragraph also bars using a homesite for storage of motor vehicles, and caps snowmobiles, recreational vehicles, motorcycles and dune buggies at forty-eight (48) hours parked on a homesite. Every house is required to have a full-size attached garage holding at least two and not more than three cars.
A home occupation is allowed, inside a narrow definition. The use must be conducted entirely within the house, carried on solely by a member of the immediate family living there, and be clearly incidental and secondary to living there without changing the character of the home. Four conditions come with it: no sign or display indicating from the outside that the building is used for anything but a residence; nothing sold on the homesite; nobody employed other than a family member living there; and no mechanical or electrical equipment used. The declaration then names uses that are not permitted as a home occupation in any event: a barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlor, tea room, fortune-telling parlor, animal hospital, or any form of animal care or treatment business such as dog trimming. Read with the sign limits, a customer-facing or employee-based business is what this paragraph is built to keep 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 →Trash, garbage and other waste may be kept only in sanitary containers, and no homesite may be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish. Incinerators and other equipment for storing or disposing of such material must be kept clean and sanitary and kept indoors except for pickup, and containers may go out no earlier than twelve (12) hours before the expected pickup time. The declaration does not say when they have to come back in. The vehicle and storage paragraph separately bars using a homesite to store junk, waste, debris or grass clippings.
The declaration never mentions a grill of any kind, so read what it does say and judge the edge yourself. Its fires paragraph bars fires, burn pits and other types of incineration devices from functioning, operating or being placed on any street or roadway on the property, within any homesite, or on any common area. It is not limited to open burning, and it is not limited to leaves, trash or yard waste, so on the face of that wording a charcoal fire in a back yard can be caught by it. The one exception the document names runs the other way from a back-yard cookout: properly established, maintained and controlled campfire pits for social functions, as opposed to incineration or burning, are expressly permitted when the developer or the association puts them on common areas. A gas grill may be a different question, since it is arguably not an incineration device, but the document does not answer it. If grilling matters to you, get the association's position in writing before you buy.
Clotheslines are generally prohibited, with one express exception. The declaration bars clothes lines and other devices for hanging laundry, rugs or other items outside the house, then permits one on each homesite: a sole, single pole device for hanging, placed at the rear of the house and within fifteen (15) feet of it. So a single rear pole is allowed by name, and a run of line between two posts or a line off the house is not.
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.