What the recorded documents actually say about The Terraces at College Green in Goshen — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
16 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
A fence needs written approval before it goes up. The declaration names fences specifically and says no fence or other structure may be started, put up, kept, improved or altered by an owner without the prior approval of the Architectural Control Committee or the Grounds Committee. The request goes in on an Exterior Change Request Form with drawings, site plan and contractor details, and the committee answers in writing within thirty days of a complete request. No height, material or style standard is written into the documents, so those come from the committee's rules - ask the association for the current ones. Note that the association already maintains the existing fences on the common ground.
The documents never use the word shed, but they do cover any structure. No dwelling unit, fence or other structure may be started, erected, kept, improved or altered by an owner without prior approval of the Architectural Control Committee or the Grounds Committee, and any change to a site from its original improved state needs the committee's approval too. That puts a shed or outbuilding in front of the committee first. No size, siting or material standard is stated in the recorded documents.
Boats, campers, trailers of any kind, buses, mobile homes, trucks, motorcycles, mini bikes, mopeds and any vehicle other than a normal passenger vehicle may not be parked overnight or stored anywhere in the community. The one way to keep one on site is completely enclosed inside a garage - the declaration says nothing in the rule prevents parking, storing or repairing such a vehicle when it is fully inside a garage.
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 →Exterior changes are tightly controlled and this is the rule that touches most projects. No improvement, alteration, repair, color change, excavation or grade change that alters a site or what is on it from its original improved state may be done without the Architectural Control Committee's prior approval. The process is a written Exterior Change Request Form, filled out completely and signed by an owner, with the details needed to evaluate it attached - for construction that means a detailed description, drawings or pictures, site plans, elevations and contractor information. The committee replies in writing within thirty days of a complete request, and a denial can be appealed to the board, which may reverse or modify it on a two-thirds vote of the directors. Separately, nothing may be affixed to exterior walls or roofs without the committee's consent.
Antennas and satellite dishes are treated together and the rule is about placement and looks, not a ban. The declaration says an antenna should be installed so it does not detract from the overall look of the community and, if possible, should sit in the perimeter landscaping of the home site with shrubs or bushes planted around it for camouflage. It then says flatly that this does not require installing it where an acceptable quality signal cannot be received, or in a way that raises the cost or unreasonably delays or prevents use. Antennas cannot be installed on the common areas. No size limit is stated.
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 →Most of the yard work is not the homeowner's to begin with - the association mows, waters, fertilizes and replants the lawn and cares for the trees, shrubs and flowers it planted. What an owner adds is controlled: no trees or shrubs may be planted by an owner without prior approval of the Architectural Control Committee or the Grounds Committee, and no owner may remove a tree the association planted without the board's approval. Flowers are the exception an owner can plant on their own, but the documents say the owner must remove them if the committee directs it at any time. Anything the homeowner planted is theirs to maintain, and the board may issue further rules on planting and removal.
The documents put mailboxes on the association's list of things it maintains, alongside driveways, porches, parking areas, yard lights and fences, with the cost carried in the assessments. No design, color or replacement standard for an owner-supplied mailbox is written into the recorded documents, and because exterior changes generally need Architectural Control Committee approval, ask the association before changing one out.
Dogs, cats and customary household pets are allowed in a home. No livestock or poultry of any kind may be raised, bred or kept anywhere in the community, and no pet may be kept, bred or maintained for a commercial purpose or allowed to create a nuisance. Outdoors, a pet has to be on a leash or other restraint and attended - and the declaration says specifically that tethering a pet outside the home site does not count as attended. Owners must pick up and properly dispose of pet waste immediately. Owners are fully liable for injury or damage their pet causes. If the board judges a pet to be creating a nuisance, unreasonable disturbance, noise or property damage, the pet has to be permanently removed within ten days of written notice. No breed list or size or number limit is stated, and the board may adopt further pet rules.
Long-term leasing is expressly protected. The declaration says that apart from the short-term ban, owners have the absolute right to lease their home, provided the lease is made subject to the covenants and restrictions in the declaration and to the bylaws. The condition that bites is the length: a rental for less than 180 days is prohibited. No cap on the number of rentals, no board approval of tenants and no registration requirement appears in the documents.
The declaration does not use the word basketball, but it bans the category a permanent goal falls into: no swing sets, sandboxes or permanent recreational toys or equipment are permitted unless the association provides them. It also says only common areas specifically designated for recreation may be used for recreation. A portable hoop is not separately addressed, so ask the association how it applies the rule.
Signs need permission. For sale, for rent and for lease signs, any other sign, and any window or advertising display may not be put up anywhere in the community without the prior consent of the board - the board keeps the right to place for sale or for lease signs itself on unsold or unoccupied homes. Political signs are carved out: an owner may display them starting thirty days before an election and up to five days after it, which is what Indiana Code 32-31-13 allows. Separately, no sign, awning, canopy or shutter may be affixed to an exterior wall or roof without Architectural Control Committee consent.
Parking is spelled out in detail. Residents are to park inside the garage attached to their home, and for each space in that garage they may park one additional operational vehicle on their own driveway - so a one-car garage means one more car in the driveway. That driveway limit does not apply to temporary guest parking. On-street daytime parking should be used only when necessary and vehicles should not be parked on the street overnight; guests should use their host's driveway or the guest parking spaces. Separately, anything that is not a normal passenger vehicle may not be parked overnight or stored anywhere outside a garage.
The declaration limits every home and home site to residential occupancy, and it bars commercial or other activity that creates a nuisance in terms of noise, parking, traffic flow or disruptive behavior. It does not address a quiet home office with no clients coming and going, and no signage is permitted without board consent, so a business that draws traffic or needs a sign runs into the rule. Ask the association how it reads this for a specific situation.
Short-term rental is prohibited and the declaration puts a number on it: no home may be rented for transient or hotel purposes, defined as a rental for a period of less than 180 days. That rules out nightly and weekly platform rentals, and month-to-month stays below six months as well. Leasing for longer than that is expressly allowed.
The only thing the documents say about repairing a vehicle is inside the rule on boats, campers, trailers, trucks, motorcycles and other non-passenger vehicles: parking, storing or repairing one is permitted when it is completely enclosed within a garage. Routine work on an ordinary passenger car in a driveway is not separately addressed, though the general bar on activity that is a nuisance or annoyance to neighbors would still apply.
Garbage, trash and refuse have to be stored in appropriate containers inside the home, garages included, and kept there until no earlier than the evening before scheduled collection. What goes out has to be in sealed disposable plastic bags or in containers the board has approved, and it goes at the collection spots the board designates. The documents do not name a collection day or a hauler, so get those from the association.
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 →Line-drying outdoors is out. No clothes, sheets, blankets, rugs, laundry or other things may be hung out or exposed so as to be visible from any part of the common areas or any public street. The rule is about visibility rather than the clothesline itself, and given how these homes sit, very little would be out of sight.
Flags are not named in the documents, but what they are mounted to is. Nothing may be hung or displayed on the outside of a window or placed on the outside walls of a building, and no sign, awning, canopy, shutter or other attachment or thing may be affixed to or placed upon an exterior wall, a roof or any other part of a home without the prior consent of the Architectural Control Committee. A wall-mounted bracket or a flagpole would go to the committee first. Indiana law gives some protection to displaying the United States flag; the recorded documents here say nothing about it, so ask the association how it handles flags in practice.
There is a specific and unusual rule here: every window covering that is visible from outside the home must be a shade of white and kept in good condition, so the homes present a uniform appearance. Interior color choices that do not show through are not addressed. On top of that, nothing may be hung or displayed on the outside of a window, and no window or advertising display is permitted anywhere without the board's prior consent.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.