What the recorded documents actually say about The Summit in Middlebury — 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 are read from the Protective Restrictions, Covenants & Limitations and Easements for The Summit, recorded with the Elkhart County Recorder on June 7, 2016 as Instrument No. 2016-10682. That instrument restates and amends the earlier Summit covenants, and it says in its own words that its provisions govern and control if any earlier recorded instrument conflicts with it. The copy on file is a photographic scan of the recorded original: every one of its nineteen pages carries the county recorder stamp, it is signed by the developer's president and secretary, and it is notarized. So it is the recorded instrument, not a draft or a retyped handout.
Which lots it governs. The instrument lists them by section: Section One, Lots 1 through 9; Section Two, Lots 10 through 20; Section Three, Lots 133 through 140 and Lots 144 through 157; Section Four, Lots 87 through 89 and Lots 158 through 161; Section Five, Lots 21 through 31, Lots 48 through 52, Lots 110 through 117 and Lots 141 through 143; Section Six, Lots 32 through 40 and Lots 53 through 57; Section Seven, Lots 58 through 67 and Lots 70 through 76; Section Eight, Lots 118 through 121, Lots 68 and 69, Lots 77 through 81, Lot 96 and Lots 98 through 109; and Section Nine, Lots 82 through 88, Lots 90 through 95, Lots 189 through 193, and the re-plat of Lot 160. Lot numbers outside those ranges are not named anywhere in it. If a lot number is not on that list, ask the title company which restrictions are recorded against that particular lot before relying on this page for it.
One number differs by section, so check which section a home sits in. Minimum living floor area is 1,500 square feet for a ranch and 1,500 for a one-and-a-half story or bi-level in Sections One through Six, but 1,800 square feet for both in Sections Seven, Eight and Nine. The two-story minimum is 2,000 square feet everywhere.
An older eight-page copy of the original 1998 Section One covenants also circulates with this subdivision, and it carries a typed-in note about in-ground pools being allowed. That copy has no recorder stamp on it, and it has been superseded. The 2016 recording covers the same ground in its own words, including the pool allowance, and it is what these answers follow.
A set of association by-laws is also on file. It is a conformed copy with no signature, no date and no recording stamp, and it names no dollar figure, so treat it as a description of how the board works rather than as a current rule book. Ask the association for the dues it is charging now and for any rules the board has adopted since 2016.
Fencing is limited by type, height and written approval. The only perimeter fencing the covenants permit is an open decorative fence no more than four feet high, or a privacy fence around an immediate patio no more than six feet high. Either one has to match the architectural standards set by the style of the home and be approved in writing by the Architectural Control Committee, unless the committee approves a variance in writing. A separate paragraph limits what can sit on a corner lot: no fence, wall, hedge or shrub that blocks sight lines between two and six feet above the roadway within twenty-five feet of an intersection, or within ten feet of where a driveway meets the street.
A detached storage building or pet shelter is contemplated, but it needs approval before you start. The covenants require that any detached storage or pet shelter structure, for lawn tools, toys, other personal property or sheltering pets, be of quality construction, be kept attractive and neat, blend with the established home, and be submitted to the Architectural Control Committee for approval before construction begins. The committee may also require protective screening around it. A separate paragraph bars moving a barn, outbuilding, shack, garage or any temporary structure onto a lot to be lived in, which is about using one as a residence rather than about storage sheds.
The covenants restrict where a recreational or commercial vehicle may sit rather than banning ownership outright. The wording is that no recreational or commercial vehicles, naming campers, trailers, trucks and boats, may be kept in open areas in this subdivision, whether those open areas are on or off the owner's lot. Two things are worth knowing before relying on this. The document never defines what an open area is, and it never mentions a garage or any other enclosed structure, either to permit one or to rule one out. So an open driveway or yard is plainly caught by the wording, while a camper kept inside a closed garage is genuinely not addressed one way or the other. If that distinction matters to a purchase, ask the association in writing how it reads and enforces this paragraph before you buy.
In-ground pools are allowed with written approval; above-ground pools and tennis courts are not. The paragraph starts by saying no tennis courts or swimming pools are permitted, then adds that below ground pools may be allowed but only with prior written approval from the Architectural Control Committee. Read together, that leaves an in-ground pool available subject to the committee saying yes in writing first, and leaves an above-ground pool and a tennis court prohibited. Get the committee's written approval in hand before any work starts.
Nothing gets built or altered outside until the Architectural Control Committee approves the plans in writing. That covers erecting, constructing, placing, maintaining or altering any building or other structure, and it also covers changing the natural topography or drainage of a lot. The plans have to show the floor plan, quality of construction, materials, the outside colors, how the external design sits with existing structures, and the location relative to lot lines, topography and finish grade elevations. Two complete sets go in; one stays in the developer's office and one comes back to the builder. Approval or disapproval is in writing, no deviation from approved plans is allowed without the committee's prior written consent, and the committee's decision is entirely within its own discretion. The committee is three people appointed by the developer, and the covenants say its authority expires twenty years after the covenants were recorded, subject to the amendment paragraph, so ask the association who reviews plans today.
Small dishes are expressly allowed, with placement controlled; larger radio antennas are not. An owner may put up a direct broadcast satellite dish no more than one meter in diameter, an MMDS antenna no more than one meter in diameter or diagonal measurement, or a television broadcast antenna. It has to meet safety codes, and it must be placed, to the extent feasible, where it is not visible from the street or other common property. The Architectural Control Committee may require the owner to pay for shrubbery or other screening and to make the color blend with the landscape and architecture, so long as that does not unreasonably impair the installation, maintenance or use of the dish. Nothing may be installed until the committee has approved the placement in writing. Separately, no outside above-ground AM, FM or short wave radio antenna of any type is permitted, and all utility and cable service is required to run underground.
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 →There is a planting deadline and several limits on what can go where. The side, front and rear yards of each lot have to be planted with grass seed, sod or ground cover within one hundred twenty days after the structure is finished or is occupied as a home, whichever comes first, unless the Architectural Control Committee approves something else. No screen planting over thirty-six inches high is permitted between the building setback line and the front lot line on any lot. In the protective screening areas marked on the plat as non-access easements, plantings have to be kept up by the lot owner at the owner's own expense to form an effective screen. On a corner lot, nothing that blocks sight lines between two and six feet above the roadway may stand within twenty-five feet of the intersection, and a tree there has to be trimmed high enough not to block the view. Changing a lot's natural topography or drainage also needs committee approval, and the grading of drainage swales may not be altered.
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 →Household pets are allowed; farm animals are not. The covenants bar raising, breeding or keeping any animals, livestock or poultry on a lot, then except dogs, cats and other household pets, provided they are not kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose and are not allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard. No number limit, weight limit or breed restriction appears in the document. A separate paragraph requires Architectural Control Committee approval before building a detached 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 →One small sign is allowed and almost nothing else. No sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a lot except a single sign of not more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or rent, or a sign of any size used by a builder to advertise the property during the construction and sales period. The developer also reserved the right to put up whatever signs it wants to promote and sell lots and homes in the development. The home occupation paragraph reinforces this from the other direction, barring any sign or display indicating from the outside that the building is used for anything other than a dwelling.
There is no general rule about parking an everyday car, but three paragraphs touch parking. Driveways cannot be stone or cinder, must be at least twelve feet wide, and must be asphalt at least three inches thick, brick, or concrete at least four inches thick; a circular drive in front of a home may be as narrow as eight feet. Every dwelling has to have a full-size attached garage holding at least two cars and no more than three, and the home itself may have a private garage for no more than three cars. And the recreational and commercial vehicle paragraph keeps campers, trailers, trucks and boats out of open areas in the subdivision, which is the one paragraph that reaches a vehicle parked outside. Ordinary passenger-car parking on a driveway, overnight street parking and guest parking are not addressed anywhere in the document.
A home occupation is permitted, but the conditions are strict and specific. The use has to be conducted entirely inside the dwelling, carried on solely by a member of the immediate family living there, and be clearly incidental and secondary to using the home as a home without changing its character. On top of that: no sign or display showing from the outside that the building is used for anything but a dwelling, no commodity sold on the premises, no employee other than an immediate family member living there, and no mechanical or electrical equipment used. The covenants then name uses that can never qualify, whatever else is true: 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 has to be contained, and burning it is out. No lot may be used or kept as a dumping ground for rubbish. Trash, garbage and other waste may only be kept in sanitary containers, and all equipment for storing or disposing of it has to be kept clean and sanitary. No incinerators are permitted, and burning trash, garbage or other waste material is not allowed anywhere in the subdivision. The association is separately given the power to enforce the restrictions on accumulations of rubbish, weeds and trash. The document does not say where containers must be stored between collections.
The covenants never mention a grill, a barbecue or cooking, so this is read off the fires paragraph, and that paragraph is written broadly. It says no fire shall be permitted to burn upon any street, lot or roadway in this subdivision. There is no carve-out for cooking, no qualifier limiting it to open fires or to burning waste, and no mention of a patio or a deck. On the face of that wording a charcoal or wood fire on a lot is caught. A gas grill may be a different question, since a sealed propane burner is not obviously a fire permitted to burn upon the lot in the way a burn pile is, but the document does not draw that line and a buyer should not assume it. A separate paragraph independently bans burning trash, garbage or other waste. If outdoor cooking or a fire pit matters, ask the association in writing how it applies this paragraph before you buy.
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.