What the recorded documents actually say about Spring Brooke First in Goshen — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
10 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 Amended and Restated Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions of Spring Brooke, adopted in August 2007 by Spring Brooke Homeowners Association, Inc. and recorded with the Elkhart County Recorder as instrument 2007-21669. It replaced the original 1992 declaration and the four amendments that followed it, and it is the newest governing instrument in the county file for this neighborhood.
It reaches this section and the whole of Spring Brooke alike. The restatement names every recorded plat it governs: Spring Brooke First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth. So nothing here is limited to the First plat, and a home on any Spring Brooke street is under the same document. The original 1992 declaration and its amendments are superseded and were not used for any answer.
Two gaps are worth knowing about before you rely on this page. First, the declaration gives the Board power to adopt additional rules and regulations, including parking rules and pet rules, and says those get recorded with the county separately. None of those recorded rules are in the copy on file here, so a rule that affects you can exist outside this document, and several answers below say to ask for the current policy for exactly that reason. Second, the declaration fixes no dollar amount for dues; assessments are set each year by budget. Seller disclosure forms filed with individual Spring Brooke sales between 2024 and 2026 report monthly dues of roughly 341 dollars in one and roughly 444 dollars in another, both marked monthly. Those are seller-completed forms, they disagree with each other, and neither is an association statement, so treat the range as a rough order of magnitude only and get the current figure from the association.
One structural thing shapes almost every answer. Spring Brooke is a planned unit development of attached homes in duplex, triplex and four-plex clusters, and the association maintains the lawns, the irrigation, the mailbox structures, the lights, the ponds, the guest parking and some of the driveways. Much of the ground around a home is common area or limited common area rather than the owner's to build on or plant, and which one applies varies by home. Check that for the specific address before assuming a rule written about a lot applies to the yard you are looking at.
A fence needs the Board of Directors to approve it in writing before any work starts. The declaration groups a fence with dwellings and other structures and requires prior written Board approval for all of them, and it sets no height, material or placement standard of its own, so the standard is whatever the Architectural Control Committee and the Board apply. The Committee reviews the application and recommends approval or denial, then the Board makes the final ruling. There is a timetable: the Committee has 30 days to recommend and the Board 30 days after that to decide, and if nothing comes back within 60 days of a complete submission the request is treated as denied unless the owner sends a certified-mail demand, after which Board silence for 7 more days counts as approval.
The declaration never uses the word shed or outbuilding. What it does say is that no dwelling, fence or other structure may be erected or altered by an owner without the prior written approval of the Board of Directors, and a shed is a structure, so plan on submitting it for approval rather than assuming it is allowed. No size, siding, roof-pitch or setback standard appears in the document. Because this is a planned unit development where much of the ground around the homes is common area or limited common area rather than the owner's to build on, ask the association where a shed could even be placed before you design one.
A camper, travel trailer, trailer of any kind, mobile home, recreational vehicle, boat, jet-ski, bus or similar vehicle may be kept here only inside an enclosed garage and out of public view. The declaration names the garage as the permitted place, so this is not a flat ban, but it leaves no driveway or street option and states no loading or grace period of any length. The same paragraph defines truck narrowly: a pickup up to one ton, a mini or full size van, and a sport utility vehicle are not treated as trucks, while an extended-length or oversized van, or any vehicle that cannot fit in a garage, is. Semi-tractors, semi-trailers, tractor-trailer combinations and box-style non-pickup trucks are not permitted in the development at all. A vehicle in violation can be towed at the Board's discretion with the costs charged to the vehicle owner.
The declaration never names a swimming pool. It does require prior written Board approval for any improvement, alteration, excavation or change in grade that alters a lot or a dwelling from the state it was in when first conveyed, which is the language an in-ground pool would run into, and an above-ground pool would separately be a structure needing the same approval. No pool is expressly permitted or expressly banned anywhere in the document. Separately, the declaration lists a Clubhouse and Pool Committee among the committees the Board may appoint, which points to a community pool rather than private ones, so ask the association what exists and whether it has ever approved a pool on a home site.
Nothing on the outside may change without prior written Board approval. That covers improvements, alterations, repairs, color changes, excavation and changes in grade that alter a dwelling, a cluster, a home site or a lot from the condition it was in when the home site was first conveyed, and repainting the exterior is called out separately as needing written Board approval too. The process runs through an Architectural Control Committee of three or more owners, which recommends to the Board, and the Board issues the final ruling. The clock is specific: 30 days for the Committee to recommend, 30 days for the Board to decide, and at 60 days from a complete submission the request is automatically denied unless the owner demands a response by certified mail, in which case 7 days of further Board silence makes it automatically approved. An owner can also petition the Committee to enforce the covenants against a neighbor, which triggers a hearing with at least 10 days notice and can end in a recommendation that a non-compliant structure be removed.
The declaration never mentions a satellite dish, antenna or receiver. The clause it would run into is the one saying no awning, canopy, shutter or other attachment or thing may be affixed to or placed upon the exterior walls, the roof or any other part of a dwelling without the prior written consent of the Board, and a wall or roof mounted dish is an attachment of that kind. So treat it as something to clear with the Board in writing rather than something the document either permits or forbids. Because the document is silent on dishes specifically, and because outside rules may bear on how an association can apply a general rule to one, ask the association for its current written policy before you order an install.
Solar panels are not mentioned anywhere in the declaration. The provisions they would run into are the ban on affixing any attachment to the exterior walls or roof without the prior written consent of the Board, and the separate requirement that any alteration to a dwelling or home site get prior written Board approval. Neither names solar, so the document neither permits nor prohibits a rooftop array; it puts it in front of the Board. Roofs here sit within a maintenance scheme the association partly controls, which is a second reason to raise it with the association early rather than at installation. Ask for the current written policy, and ask whether any outside rule affects how it is applied.
Most of the ground is the association's to plant, not the owner's. An owner may not plant, remove, trim or prune any tree, shrub or other plant in a common area or limited common area that the association maintains without prior written Board approval, and may not plant flowers in a common or limited common area outside Board-designated beds without the same approval. Plastic and artificial flowers are not permitted in those areas at all. Anything an owner does plant there is at the owner's risk and at the owner's cost to maintain; the association takes no responsibility for loss or damage. If an owner plants without approval, or lets approved plantings go, the Board may remove the work and restore the area, and if the association has to repair or replace common area because of an owner's planting, that cost is added to the owner's regular assessment and becomes a lien on the home. On an owner's own home site, a change in grade needs prior written Board approval under the architectural provisions.
The mailboxes are the association's, not the homeowner's. The declaration assigns installation, repair, replacement, maintenance and upkeep of the mailbox structures and the mailboxes or receptacles attached to them to the corporation, funded through the assessments, so a homeowner is not expected to buy or replace one. It follows that swapping a mailbox or post for something different would be an exterior alteration needing prior written Board approval, and the document sets no design standard of its own. Ask the association who to call when one is damaged.
Up to two dogs, two cats, or other customary household pets may be kept in a dwelling. Livestock and poultry are not permitted, and the document names exotic animals and pot-bellied or Vietnamese pigs specifically. No pet may be raised, bred or kept for any commercial purpose, and none may create a nuisance, which the document describes as including foul odor or unreasonable noise to another owner or resident. Pets go outdoors only on a leash or other restraint and only while attended by the owner, and tethering a pet does not count as attended. The owner is fully liable for injury or damage, and must clean up after the pet in common areas or pay the association's cleaning cost. The Board may require a pet security deposit, refundable when the pet leaves except for damage. A pet the Board judges dangerous, or one causing a nuisance, noise, property damage or loss of enjoyment, must be permanently removed within 10 days of written notice; the document defines a dangerous animal as one that has bitten or attacked a resident, or that when unprovoked has chased or approached a person in a menacing fashion or an apparent attitude of attack. The Board can grant a written variance on proof of a handicap, medical or health reason.
Homes here are owner-occupied. The 2007 restatement made every home site owner-occupied only and barred renting or leasing from the date it was recorded, so a buyer should not plan on renting the house out. Three things soften it. A home that was already being rented when the restatement was recorded may stay a rental while that owner holds it, on written proof such as a copy of the lease, but the owner-occupancy requirement attaches as soon as title transfers to a new owner. A transfer made for estate planning or inheritance is not treated as a transfer that triggers owner-occupancy. And the Board may grant a one-year hardship exception on a written petition that states the reasons; the document lists layoff or business closing, a job or retirement move more than 50 miles from Goshen, relocation for mental or physical health reasons or disability, divorce or marriage, and death of an owner. Each owner gets one hardship exception during their ownership unless they can show extraordinary circumstances. The Board has 30 days to rule and the petition is deemed denied at 30 days, unless the owner demands a response by certified mail, after which 7 days of silence makes it approved. An owner who leases in violation loses the right to lease any home in the development for five years, and the association can void the lease and evict at the owner's cost. The restriction does not bind an institutional mortgagee that takes possession through foreclosure, but it binds whoever buys from that mortgagee. Owners who do not live in the home but are not collecting rent must still give the Board the names of the residents.
The declaration never names a basketball goal, hoop or backboard. Two provisions bear on one. Swing sets, sandboxes and recreational toys or equipment are not permitted on the common areas or the limited common areas unless the corporation provides them, and in this development the association maintains driveways that lie within limited common areas, so where a driveway is limited common area a goal standing on it is on ground that clause reaches. Separately, a permanent pole or a backboard fixed to the house would be a structure or an attachment needing prior written Board approval. Nothing addresses a portable goal on a home site expressly, and the Board can adopt further recorded rules, so ask the association what it currently allows rather than reading permission into the silence.
One for-sale sign may go up without asking the Board first, as long as it follows the policies and rules the Board has adopted for how such signs are displayed. A for-rent or for-lease sign may not be displayed anywhere in the development unless the Board authorizes and approves it under the leasing provisions. Every other sign needs prior written Board approval, with a narrow exception: medical or security information about the owner or the dwelling may be displayed without approval. The declaration also treats banners, decorative flags and similar items hung on windows, doors, exterior walls or the lawn as needing prior written Board consent. No size, material or setback limits appear in the document, so the operative detail sits in whatever sign policy the Board has adopted. Ask for it.
Parking is governed both by the declaration and by rules the Board adopts, so ask for the current parking rules on top of what follows. No vehicle of any kind may be parked for any length of time on grass, yard, or any other non-paved part of the common areas or limited common areas. A pickup up to one ton, a mini or full size van, and a sport utility vehicle are treated as ordinary vehicles; an extended-length or oversized van, or a vehicle too large to fit in a garage, is not, and falls under the storage restriction that requires an enclosed garage. Semi-tractors, semi-trailers, tractor-trailer combinations and box-style non-pickup trucks are not permitted in the development. A commercial vehicle, or any vehicle displaying a company logo or advertising, is prohibited unless parked or stored completely inside a garage, except where it is temporarily present to make a delivery or to perform routine home maintenance or health care services. An inoperative, disabled or unlicensed vehicle may not be parked or stored anywhere in the development in open public view. The association maintains guest parking areas. Any vehicle in violation may be towed at the Board's discretion, with towing, collection and legal costs charged to the vehicle's owner.
A business is not permitted on the property, but a home office or home occupation is, on seven conditions. The ban covers industry, business, manufacturing, mercantile, storing, trade and any commercial activity conducted for profit or otherwise. The exception requires all of the following: the office or occupation generates no more visits or unreasonable parking than a normal residence, as the Board of Directors judges it; no equipment, signs or other business items are stored, parked or kept outside the dwelling or in public view; there are no employees or independent contractors inside the dwelling other than the resident; the resident holds whatever local, state and federal approvals the use needs; the resident complies with the City of Goshen or Elkhart County home occupation ordinances; everything else in the declaration, the by-laws and the association's rules is complied with; and if the occupation generates traffic, the Board may require the owner to cover any resulting increase in the association's insurance cost or to carry additional liability insurance naming the association as an additional insured. Client-facing or employee-based work is therefore the part most likely to fail the test.
Short-term renting is out twice over. Every lease entered into after the restatement was recorded must run at least six months and no longer than one year, which rules out nightly and weekly stays, and the same section makes homes owner-occupied only going forward in the first place. A home site may not be leased in part, only in whole, and subleasing is not allowed. The six-month floor and one-year ceiling can be changed only by written Board approval, and the document expressly folds rent-to-own and purchase contract arrangements into the definition of a lease so they cannot be used to get around it. Every lease must be in writing, with a copy to the Board within 30 days of signing, and must tell the tenant they are bound by the declaration, the by-laws and the association's rules.
Repair work that puts a vehicle on blocks or jacks is permitted only inside an enclosed garage. The declaration says so directly, so a driveway or street repair that lifts the car is out while the same job in a closed garage is expressly fine. Separately, an inoperative, disabled or unlicensed vehicle may not be parked, stored or repaired anywhere in the development in open public view, which reaches the longer repair that leaves a car sitting. Routine work that never lifts the vehicle and never leaves it disabled in view, such as changing oil or a battery in a driveway, is not addressed either way. A vehicle in violation may be towed at the Board's discretion and the owner pays the cost.
Garbage, trash and refuse are stored in containers inside the dwelling, and the document counts the garage as inside, and stay there until collection day or whatever other timing the Board sets. For collection it goes out in closed disposable plastic bags or other acceptable containers, at the locations designated for pickup. The Board may adopt further rules on trash disposal and collection. Nothing in the document says a can may be left at the curb or beside the house between pickups, so plan on garage storage. The common areas and limited common areas must be kept neat, clean and free of rubbish, debris and other unsightly material.
Grills are named, and the restriction is about where. Gas and charcoal grills, fryers and similar cooking appliances are not permitted on the decks or balconies of a dwelling, except as consistent with local and state fire and safety codes, which leaves a narrow opening defined by code rather than by the association. The same paragraph says only patio or deck furniture may be kept on patios and decks, so a grill stored out there is a separate problem from one in use. The document does not address grilling on a patio at ground level, in a yard, or on common area, so it is silent on those rather than permissive. Given how much of this development is attached housing with decks, ask the association for its current written position before you buy a built-in or a large unit.
Line drying outdoors is not permitted. Clothes, sheets, blankets, rugs, laundry and other things may not be hung out or exposed anywhere they would be visible from any part of a dwelling, a lot, a common area, a limited common area or any public street. The restriction is written around visibility rather than around a clothesline as equipment, so a drying rack on a deck or patio is caught by it as much as a line is. No exception, screening allowance or Board waiver is offered for this one.
An American flag may be displayed without asking the Board, within specific limits. It must be flown according to the United States Code, the rules adopted by the American Legion, or another generally accepted custom for proper display. No freestanding flagpoles are allowed anywhere in the development, so the flag has to be on a mounted standard attached to the house. An American flag may not be illuminated, and an owner may not display more than one at a time. The Board reserves the right to adopt rules limiting flag size. Every other flag is treated as a decorative flag and may not be hung, displayed, placed or erected on the outside of a window or door, on an exterior wall, or on the lawn without prior written Board consent, which covers sports, seasonal, holiday and garden flags.
What shows through the window is regulated by color. Draperies, blinds and other window and door coverings must present white, beige or another neutral color and texture to the outside unless the Board approves otherwise. Separately, nothing may be hung, displayed, placed or erected on the outside of any window or door without prior written Board consent, and the document lists signs, banners, decorative flags, ornaments, ceramic animals, statues, bird baths, wall hangings and furniture as examples of what that reaches. So an interior-facing treatment is the owner's business as long as the outward side is neutral; anything mounted on the exterior of the window needs written approval first.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.