What the recorded documents actually say about The Gardens in Goshen — 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
What this page rests on. The Gardens was built out in phases and each phase has its own recorded filing, but they are not independent documents: one 1994 instrument carries all of the use restrictions and every later phase adopts it by reference and then changes only a few things. That base document is the Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations, Easements, and Homeowners' Association for The Gardens Phase I Subdivision, recorded with the Elkhart County Recorder on August 3, 1994 as instrument 94-019959 by Advanced Management Group, LLC. Seven recorded instruments for The Gardens are on file here and all seven were read end to end. Unless an answer below says otherwise, it comes from the 1994 document and applies the same way in every phase.
Which lots each filing covers. Phase I, Lots 1 through 35, instrument 94-019959. Phase II, Lots 36 through 52, instrument 2003-23758. Phase III, Lots 53 through 63 and 66 through 77, instrument 2003-23759. Phase V, Lot 65 and Lots 78 through 82, 94, 95, and 107 through 118, instrument 2004-41744. Phase VI, Lots 83 through 93 and 96 through 106, instrument 2007-28603. Three amendments are also on file: 2003-34415 and 2003-35295, which change only the minimum dwelling size on Lot 23 and on Lots 24 through 30 of Phase I, and 2007-33270, which changes the mailbox rule for Phase V.
What is not here. Lot 64 is the one lot in the range above that no filing on file covers. The documents show it was re-platted as part of The Gardens Seventh, and that filing is not among the papers here, so an owner of Lot 64 should pull their own. No Phase IV is named in any of these instruments. More importantly, the covenants incorporate the association's Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws by reference and say that where those conflict with the covenants, the Articles and Bylaws govern. Neither is on file here. That is where dues and assessments actually live, and no dollar figure for an assessment appears anywhere in what is on file. Anything recorded after 2007, and any rule the board adopted outside the recorded covenants, would also not appear here.
Two things genuinely differ by phase. The first is the minimum square footage for a house, which each phase instrument sets separately for its own lots. The second is mailboxes. Phases I, II and III use a uniform wood box made available by the developer. Phase VI uses a shared box serving two neighbouring lots, installed by the developer and then maintained by the two owners. Phase V started out on a vinyl or weather-resistant box in 2004 and was amended in 2007 back to the wood standard used in the earlier phases. Everything else answered below is common to all of them.
One timing point to raise with the association. The 1994 document gives the developer the authority to appoint and perpetuate the three-person Architectural Review Committee for twenty years after the plat for the applicable phase is recorded, and gives the developer an exclusive right to amend the covenants over the same twenty years, after which seventy-five percent of the lot owners in a phase may amend. For Phase I, platted in 1994, that window closed around 2014. The document is explicit that every other restriction stays in force afterwards, but it does not say who reviews plans once the developer's role ends, so ask the association who handles approvals today.
What to do before you rely on it. Have your title company or the Elkhart County Recorder confirm which filing is recorded against your specific lot and pull anything recorded since, and ask the association for the current assessment, what it covers, a copy of the Articles and Bylaws, and the review committee's current standards. The copies on file are scans of paper, one of them with a machine-made digital text layer rather than the document's own, so individual words can be misread in conversion. That is why each answer below carries the document's own wording, and it is why nothing here is presented as a direct quotation.
A fence may go behind the rear building line of the house and nowhere else, so no fencing in front of that line under any circumstances. Chain link and wire fencing are prohibited outright. No height or permitted material is named, so style comes down to the review committee, which has to approve structures on a lot in any event.
An outbuilding of any kind needs the Architectural Review Committee's written approval before it is placed on a lot. If it is approved, it has to be painted or coloured to match or complement the house and has to be built and finished to a standard that coordinates with the house and the neighbourhood, all at the committee's discretion. Sheds are clearly contemplated rather than banned: the trash paragraph names garages, garden sheds and storage buildings as the enclosed places where things are supposed to be kept.
Boats, boat trailers, travel trailers, pick-up campers, truck coaches, motorized dwellings and tent trailers are grouped together as major recreational equipment, and the covenants name exactly where they may sit: in a carport, in an enclosed building, or behind the nearest part of the house to the street. On top of that, the equipment may be parked anywhere on the lot for up to twenty-four hours while it is being loaded or unloaded. Cases and boxes used to carry recreational equipment are covered by the same rule whether the equipment is in them or not, and none of it may be used for living, sleeping or housekeeping while it is parked anywhere in the subdivision.
An in-ground pool is allowed, but not until plans and specifications for the pool and anything built with it have been approved in writing by the Architectural Review Committee. Above-ground pools are specifically prohibited. Hot tubs are not mentioned, so that is a question for the association, and anything built alongside a pool would need the same approval.
Plans and specifications have to be approved in writing by the three-person Architectural Review Committee before a house is built, and the lot's natural topography or drainage may not be altered until the committee approves those plans too. Two complete sets are submitted; one stays with the developer and one comes back to the owner with the decision in writing. The plans must show the floor plan, the quality of the construction materials, the outside colours, how the design sits with existing houses, and the location relative to the lot lines, topography and finished grades. Nothing may be built that does not fully comply with the approved plans, and no change or deviation is allowed without further written consent. The covenants say the committee's decisions are entirely within its discretion. Two further requirements apply to every lot: a sidewalk in front of the house, and a dusk-to-dawn post or gas light in front of the front setback line, both maintained by the owner. Lawn ornaments and decorative outdoor items need prior written committee approval as well.
A satellite dish or an outdoor television, AM, FM or short-wave antenna needs the Architectural Review Committee's written approval before it is put up or kept on a lot or on the house. No size, placement or screening standard is written into the covenants, so what the committee will approve is worth asking about in advance. Separately, no utility pole may be erected on a lot for any purpose, which the covenants list as including antenna poles, and all utility service including cable television has to run underground and out of sight unless the developer waived that 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 →Every lot has to be mowed, trimmed and free of debris at all times, whether or not a house has been built on it. The Architectural Review Committee designated in writing how many trees each lot had to plant between the street and the sidewalk and which species, and the number can differ from lot to lot. Replacing those trees is the association's job; maintaining the strip between the curb and the sidewalk is the owner's. Lawn ornaments and decorative outdoor items such as bird baths, fountains, towers, windmills, lighthouses, arbors and artificial animals may be put on a lot only with the committee's prior written approval. Owners also may not grade, plant, sod or surface-cover in a way that reduces the drainage the developer established, and each owner maintains the drainage system on their own lot. Utility easement strips may be used for gardens, shrubs and landscaping, but no permanent building may go on them.
Mailboxes are uniform and not a matter of personal choice. In Phases I, II and III the required box is a standard one made available by the developer for owners to buy, built mainly of wood, with the mail compartment on top and a separate lower compartment for newspapers; external newspaper receptacles are not permitted. Phase V was originally set to a vinyl or other weather-resistant box, and a 2007 amendment changed Phase V to the same wood standard as the earlier phases. Phase VI is different again: one box installed by the developer on or near the line between two lots serves both houses, with a separate compartment for each, the two owners share the upkeep, a replacement needs the review committee's written approval, and each original owner paid half the cost of the box at closing. Check which phase your lot is in before replacing a box.
Household pets are allowed, with limits that are stricter than most. A pet has to be confined to the owner's own property or on a leash when it is off it, and letting a pet off the property unleashed is described as strictly forbidden. Boarding or housing more than two pets of the same kind is also strictly forbidden, so the practical cap is two dogs or two cats. Livestock and poultry may not be kept or housed anywhere in the subdivision, and no commercial activity in animals of any kind is permitted. No breed or weight limit appears in the recorded text.
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 →This is one of the few covenants in the area that addresses a basketball goal directly, and it draws a clear line. A hoop or backboard may not be attached to a structure, which rules out mounting one on the house or over the garage. A hoop or backboard on a metal pole is allowed, in a location the Architectural Review Committee approves in writing. A utility pole may not be erected on a lot for any purpose, and the covenants list basketball goal posts among the things that means. Play equipment generally has to stay at least ten feet from a neighbouring side yard and ten feet from the rear lot line, may never sit in the front yard beyond the front building line, and has to be kept in good repair so it does not become an eyesore.
One sign is allowed on a lot: a sign of not more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or for rent. A builder may use a sign of any size to advertise during the construction and sales period, and the developer reserved the right to put up its own signage to promote lot and house sales. Apart from those, no sign of any kind may be displayed to public view. Political, security and contractor signs are not addressed. Worth noting for anyone thinking about a tenant: the for-rent sign is the only place renting is mentioned in any of these recorded documents, and none of them restricts leasing.
A vehicle or trailer without current licence plates may not be parked or stored on a lot except inside a completely enclosed building, and that applies whether or not the vehicle runs. Automotive and mechanical parts are treated as waste that may not be stored outside, and no accumulation of old automobiles or junk is permitted anywhere in the subdivision. Every house has to have a full-size attached garage big enough for two cars plus lawn tools and equipment, and no bigger than three cars, with at least four hundred thirty square feet beyond the minimum living area. Driveways need the review committee's written approval of both the location and the material, must be at least twelve feet wide, must be asphalt or concrete at least four inches thick, and stone and cinder driveways are prohibited. The recorded covenants say nothing about parking on the street.
A lot may be used only as a single-family residence, and the covenants then rule out home occupations of a particular kind: anything that requires employees, a workshop, an office, a business or a manufacturing operation, and anything that generates traffic from customers, suppliers, employees or service and delivery vehicles. Work that stays inside the house and brings nobody to the door is not named either way. The exterior is also controlled from another direction, since no sign may be displayed to public view. The developer kept a right to run a maintenance or storage facility and a sales office in the subdivision until every phase was built 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 →A lot may not be used as a dumping ground, and trash, garbage and other waste have to be kept in sanitation containers that are kept clean. The covenants define waste broadly and then say where it goes: discarded furniture, appliances, building materials, tools, toys, automotive and mechanical parts and household fixtures that are not in use have to be inside the house or inside an enclosed accessory building such as a garage, garden shed or storage building, and storing any of it outside is specifically forbidden. No accumulation of lumber, scrap metal, old automobiles or junk is permitted anywhere in the subdivision at any time. Nothing in the documents sets a time for putting containers out at the curb.
The covenants never name a grill, and there is no general paragraph about fires or fire pits. The one burning rule is about waste: burning household trash, garbage or construction material is prohibited, indoors or outdoors, with or without an incinerator. A contained cooking fire is not that, so on the face of the wording a grill is not what this rule reaches, and nothing else in seven recorded instruments addresses one. If an open fire pit is the plan rather than a grill, that is worth raising with the association, and city rules on open burning would apply separately.
A permanent above-ground clothes line, or a visible support for one, may not be put up or kept on a lot at any time. A portable or umbrella-type line of a temporary nature is allowed, with conditions: it may be used only for short periods of daylight, it may not be allowed to look unsightly, it may not be placed in a front yard, and it may not be left standing in the yard overnight.
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.