What the recorded documents actually say about The Villas of Clover Trails 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
These answers come from one recorded instrument. It is the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions of The Villas of Clover Trails, made January 9, 2002 by RT, LLC and recorded with the Elkhart County Recorder on January 24, 2002 as instrument 2002-03427. It runs to thirty-seven numbered paragraphs and the restrictions below sit in paragraphs 7 through 33, every one of which was read. The association's Code of Bylaws and its Articles of Incorporation are on file with the same recording and were read for the association section. Nothing recorded after 2002 for this neighborhood turned up anywhere in the documents available here, so no amendment has been applied.
Three developments near here carry similar names and they are governed by different documents, so the name matters. This page is The Villas of Clover Trails, a 12.20-acre planned unit development declared in 2002 by RT, LLC, with its own homeowners' association and two private drives, Clover Creek Drive and White Pine Court. It is not Clover Trails, the older and larger subdivision platted in numbered sections by a different developer, each section having its own declaration. It is not The Villas of Park Meadows at Clover Trails either, which is a separate 2005 declaration. A 1996 declaration for Clover Trails, Section 2, covering lots 18 through 37 and recorded by Clover Trails Corporation, was among the documents pulled for this neighborhood and none of the answers below come from it.
What the declaration covers. It describes the land by survey rather than by lot numbers: a 12.20-acre parcel in the Southeast Quarter of Section 17, Township 36 North, Range 6 East, Elkhart Township, bounded in part by Clover Trails Section 5, and platted December 17, 2001 at Plat Book 27, page 48. The declarant also reserved the right to add adjacent land to the same covenants later, so exactly which homesites are bound today is a title question rather than one this page can settle.
Two limits worth knowing before you rely on any answer here. First, the declaration says the architectural control committee's authority expires fifteen years after the recording of the plat on which the affected homesite sits. For the plat recorded in December 2001 that date falls around the end of 2016, and the document does not say what happens to plan approval afterwards, so ask the association how exterior approvals are handled now. Second, the bylaws let the board adopt reasonable rules and regulations by a two-thirds vote of the board, and say that once such rules are recorded they may supplement or supersede the declaration. No board rulebook is on file here, so ask the association whether one exists and ask for a copy.
What to do before you rely on it. Have your title company or the Elkhart County Recorder confirm the covenants recorded against the specific parcel and pull anything recorded since 2002, and ask the association for the current assessment, what it covers, and the committee's current standards. The recorded copies on file are scans of paper rather than digital text, so individual words can be misread in conversion, which is why each answer below carries the document's own wording.
Perimeter fencing of any type is not allowed. The only fence the declaration permits is a privacy fence used to screen a patio, deck or similar area, and that needs the architectural control committee's approval before it goes up. No height, material or colour is specified, so those would come down to the committee's own standards. Nothing in the document addresses a fence anywhere other than around a patio or deck.
Storage sheds and outside buildings are prohibited on any lot. The declaration gives its reason plainly: the lots are small and it is trying to keep a uniform appearance. A second paragraph reinforces it by barring any structure of a temporary character and naming tool sheds, storage sheds, barns, shacks, tents and other outbuildings of any type, with the one exception being a construction trailer while the home is being built.
Campers, boats, trailers, recreational vehicles, snowmobiles, motorcycles and dune buggies may not be parked outside a permitted structure on a homesite for longer than forty-eight hours. That forty-eight hour window is the condition: loading, unloading or a short stop sits inside the wording, and leaving the vehicle out beyond it does not. The declaration never defines what a permitted structure is. Elsewhere it treats the garage as part of the home itself, and it prohibits storage sheds and outside buildings on these lots, so the attached garage is realistically the only enclosed structure available. It does not say in so many words that a camper kept inside a garage is fine, and it does not say it is not, so confirm that with the association rather than assuming either way. Two related limits: a homesite may not be used for the storage of motor vehicles, and no vehicle may sit on the private drives for more than twelve hours in a day.
Pools, hot tubs, tennis courts and other similar devices or structures are prohibited on any lot, and the declaration gives the limited size of the lots as the reason. It draws no distinction between an in-ground pool, an above-ground pool and a hot tub, and it offers no approval route for any of them.
Nothing may be built, placed, maintained or altered on a homesite, and the lot's natural topography or drainage may not be changed, until the architectural control committee has approved the plans. Two complete sets have to be submitted and they must show the floor plan, exterior type and finish, materials, the outside colours, how the design sits with the homes already there, and the location relative to the lot lines. Approval or disapproval comes in writing and the declaration says the decision is entirely within the committee's discretion. Once plans are approved, no deviation is allowed without further written consent. Awnings need committee approval too. One point to raise with the association: the declaration says the committee's authority expires fifteen years after the recording of the plat on which the homesite sits, which for the December 2001 plat falls around the end of 2016, and the document does not say how approvals work after that.
All utility service, including cable television, has to run underground and out of sight. One satellite dish is permitted per homesite. The declaration limits it to eighteen inches, writing that as eighteen inches in circumference, and requires it to be attached on the back half of the roof of the home in an inconspicuous location, with that location approved by the committee. Outdoor television antennas are not otherwise provided for. A dish that will not fit those terms is a conversation to have with the association before it goes up.
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 →Lawn and landscaping plans have to be approved by the committee in writing before the home and the landscaping go in. Two sets are submitted, and they must give the location and type of trees, shrubs and plants along with the size, variety and planned position of each. After that, the association rather than the owner maintains the lawns and landscaping in line with the approved plan, which is part of what the assessment pays for. Gardens are allowed only behind the rear building line of the home, may not exceed three hundred square feet, and nothing planted in a garden may exceed forty-two inches in height. Lawn sprinkler devices are prohibited.
Every home has to have a mailbox, kept in good working order and maintained so that it looks right. The committee sets the style, and it may allow different sizes or double containers. Newspaper boxes are expressly prohibited. For homes on the private drives, the mailboxes are placed near the paved portion of the road at a location the committee approves, so a box may not sit at the end of its own driveway.
Dogs, cats and other household pets are allowed. Livestock and poultry are not, and no pet may be kept, bred or maintained for a commercial purpose or allowed to become a nuisance or hazard in the neighborhood. The declaration adds three specific duties: a pet of any type must be leashed and attended at all times, pets may not be left outside the home at night, and the owner is responsible for immediate clean-up of any waste. No number limit and no breed or weight limit appears in the recorded text.
Renting is allowed but the term is capped: no lease of a home may be entered into for more than one year without the prior approval of the association. The owner stays responsible for all assessments regardless, and a tenant is jointly and severally responsible for assessments that come due during the lease. The declaration also limits a homesite to use as a single-family residence. It sets no minimum lease length and no cap on how many homes may be rented.
The declaration never names a basketball goal. What it does is prohibit, on any homesite, lawn sprinkler devices, sandboxes, swing sets, slides, gazebos and other yard structures, devices and play ground equipment, giving the small size of the lots and the association's lawn maintenance as the reason. A pole-mounted goal standing in the yard falls within that wording, and the paragraph offers no approval route, so treat it as prohibited unless the association tells you otherwise. The single outdoor item the paragraph expressly permits is one single-pole shade umbrella in the rear yard or on a rear patio. A goal mounted on the house or garage is not addressed either way, and any such change would need committee approval in any event.
One sign is allowed on a homesite: a for-sale sign of not more than five square feet. Builders may use a reasonably sized sign during the construction and sales period, and the developer reserved the right to put up its own signage to promote lot sales. Beyond those, no sign of any kind may be displayed to public view. A home occupation specifically may not have a sign or display that shows from the outside. Political, security and contractor signs are not addressed.
Clover Creek Drive and White Pine Court are private drives owned by the association, and on-street parking on them is prohibited as the general rule, with one allowance written into the same paragraph: a vehicle may be parked on the street for up to twelve hours in any twenty-four hour day measured midnight to midnight, provided it does not block other vehicles getting in or out. Driveways have to be approved by the committee, must conform to the width of the garage door, must be at least ten feet wide, and must be concrete unless the committee approves another material in writing; stone and cinder driveways cannot be approved at all. Two further limits sit nearby: a homesite may not be used for the storage of motor vehicles, and boats, trailers, campers and similar vehicles may not stay parked outside a permitted structure for more than forty-eight hours.
A homesite may be used only as a single-family residence, with one carve-out for a home occupation. To qualify, the declaration requires all of the following: the work happens entirely inside the home; it is carried on solely by a member of the immediate family living there; it is clearly incidental and secondary to living in the home and does not change its character; nothing visible from the outside indicates the home is used for anything else, which rules out any sign or display; no commodity is sold on the homesite; nobody is employed other than an immediate family member living there; and no mechanical or electrical equipment is used. The declaration then names businesses that cannot qualify however they are run, among them a barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlor, tea room, fortune-telling parlor, animal hospital and any form of animal care or grooming business.
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 homesite may not be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish, and trash, garbage and other waste must be kept in sanitary containers. Containers are to be kept indoors except for pickup, and may not go out earlier than twelve hours before the expected pickup time. Each owner arranges and pays for routine trash pickup unless and until a governmental unit takes it over, so ask the association whether that has changed.
The declaration never names a grill of any kind. What it has is a fires paragraph, and that paragraph cuts two ways. It bars fires, burn pits and other types of incineration device from functioning, operating or being placed on any street or roadway, within any homesite, or on the common areas. In the same sentence it then expressly permits properly established, maintained and controlled campfire pits for social functions as opposed to incineration or burning, including on the common areas. So the line the document draws is between burning things and having a fire for company, and a cooking grill is not addressed on either side of it. Worth asking the association where it treats a charcoal grill as falling, and gas may be a different question again.
Hanging laundry, rugs or other items outside the home on a regular or repeated basis is not permitted. The one exception is an umbrella-style clothes drying device, one per homesite, placed to the rear of the home. The declaration does not mention a fixed line, a retractable line or a temporary rack, and it does not say the umbrella dryer needs committee approval.
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 →The declaration says nothing about curtains, blinds, shades or anything displayed in or on a window. The one thing in it that reaches a window opening is awnings, and an awning needs the architectural control committee's approval before it goes up. No size, colour or material standard is written down, so what the committee will approve is a question for the association. One construction rule sits nearby and is worth knowing for a different reason: no window, outlet or door of any type may be installed in a basement or foundation wall, because the declaration is trying to keep bedrooms out of basements.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.