What the recorded documents actually say about Timber Ridge in Bristol — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
9 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 recorded Timber Ridge Protective Restrictions, Covenants, Limitations, and Easements for Lots 1 - 37, Elkhart County, Indiana, recorded with the Elkhart County Recorder on December 15, 1997 as instrument 97 032386 and signed by the president of Pheasant Ridge Development Company. The name on the document matches this neighborhood, and the recorded plat filed in the same set places Timber Ridge in Washington Township, Elkhart County, in the Bristol area, which is the Timber Ridge this page is about.
Which lots this covers. The restrictions say on their own title page that they are for Lots 1 through 37, and the original Timber Ridge plat recorded in July 1997 in Plat Book 23 at page 72 covers those same Lots 1 through 37. The file also holds a later plat called Timber Ridge Second, recorded in October 1998 in Plat Book 24 at page 91, which adds lots numbered 38 through 55. No separate recorded set of restrictions for those later lots is in the file here. The 1997 text does say assessments are to be levied equally on each lot in all additions to the sections of the recorded plat of Timber Ridge, which reads as though the association was meant to take in the later lots as well, but that is a sentence about dues rather than a statement that the use restrictions extend. If the home you care about sits on a lot numbered above 37, ask your title company or the association which recorded restrictions apply to it before relying on the answers below.
There is a second, unrecorded version of these restrictions in the file, and it matters. It is a clean typed copy carrying the same title and the same lot range, but it has no recorder stamp, no instrument number and no date, its signature line for the association president is blank, and its notary paragraph still has the placeholder word NAME where a name would go. It reads as a proposed revision that was drafted and never executed, so nothing on this page is taken from it. It differs from the recorded text in ways a buyer would care about. It would permit a home occupation carried on inside the dwelling, raise the largest allowed detached building from ten by twelve feet to fourteen by sixteen feet, require an approved pool fence, ban basketball hoops and backboards attached to any structure, and replace the burning paragraph with a detailed rule on recreational and ceremonial fires. It also hands the Architectural Control Committee appointment to the association board instead of the developer, which is likely how it works in practice now. If any of that matters to you, ask the association whether a newer set of restrictions was ever recorded, and ask your title company or the Elkhart County Recorder for anything filed for Timber Ridge after December 1997.
How this was read. The recorded copy on file is a scan of paper, so individual words can be misread. Every rule below was read from the complete page-by-page scan of the recording held for this neighborhood, all eleven pages of the restrictions, rather than from the shortened working extract, because the shortened version turned out to be missing about seven thousand characters. What it was missing was the surveyor's plat drawings at the back, not the restrictions: all thirty-five numbered paragraphs are present and intact, and every quotation on this page was checked against the full record. The plat sheets themselves, which is where the township, the county and the lot numbering are recorded, were read by eye off the scanned images at full resolution, as were the recorder stamp and every number or rule that carried real weight.
The recorded restrictions permit only one kind of fence: a wood rail with coated green or brown chain link, described as invisible mesh, no more than four feet high. It has to match the architectural standards set by the style of the house it sits behind, and it needs written approval from the Timber Ridge Architectural Control Committee. The same paragraph lets the Committee approve a written variance from that fence requirement. Two other limits touch fences: no fence, wall, hedge or shrub that blocks sight lines between two and six feet above the roadway may stay within the corner triangle formed twenty-five feet back from a street intersection, or within ten feet of where a driveway meets a street property line, and screen planting between the building setback line and the front lot line may not exceed seventy-two inches. Plan on submitting what you want in writing before anything goes in.
Detached buildings are capped at ten feet by twelve feet unless the Architectural Control Committee or the developer gives a written exception, and that cap is written to cover storage buildings and pool houses. The same paragraph reaches a detached pet shelter, a play house and play structures built to hold lawn tools, toys, pool equipment or other personal property. Any of them must be of quality construction, kept in attractive and neat appearance, blend with the house, and be submitted to the Committee for approval before construction begins. The Committee is given authority to require protective screening around these structures, and a well house or pump house needs its written approval too. Separately, no trailer, tent, shack, garage, barn or other outbuilding may be used as a residence on a lot, temporarily or permanently.
The recorded restrictions say recreational and commercial vehicles, naming campers, trailers, trucks, boats and snowmobiles, may not be kept in open areas in the subdivision, whether the open area is on or off the owner's lot. The document never defines what an open area is, and it never mentions a garage either way, so whether a camper or a boat may sit inside a closed garage is simply not addressed by this wording. What the paragraph does clearly ban is keeping one out in the open. The next sentence adds that no motor vehicle of any kind may be parked, kept or stored on any street or lawn area, and that no vehicle may be parked on a street between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. A separate storage paragraph also says a lot may not be used to store old boats or cars that would make it look unsightly. If you own a camper, a boat or a trailer, ask the association in writing how it reads the open areas wording before you buy, because the document does not settle it for you.
Above ground pools are not permitted at all. An in-ground pool may go in, but not until the plans and specifications for it have been approved in writing by the Timber Ridge Architectural Control Committee, and any lighting fixtures for it need that same prior approval. A pool house counts as a detached building and falls under the ten by twelve foot size cap. The recorded text sets no pool fence requirement of its own, so county and state safety rules would be what governs there. An unrecorded later draft sitting in the same file would add a Committee-approved pool fence requirement; it is covered in the note at the top of this page.
Nothing may be built, placed or altered on a lot, and the lot's natural topography or drainage may not be altered, until the Architectural Control Committee has approved the plan. The plans have to show the floor plan, the quality of construction materials, the outside colors, how the external design sits with existing houses, and the location relative to lot lines, topography and finish grade, along with pavement, well and septic locations. One complete set is submitted and is kept rather than returned. Approval or denial comes in writing, with reasons given for a denial. Approval is also required for pavement of any kind, including parking and recreational paving. Nothing that does not fully comply with the approved plans may be built, and changes to approved plans need the Committee's prior written consent. The Committee's decision is described as entirely within its discretion.
Outside above-ground television, AM, FM and short-wave radio antennas of any type are not permitted on any lot or structure. Satellite dishes are prohibited unless they are less than two feet in diameter. The same paragraph requires utility service, including cable television, to run underground and stay out of sight. This language was recorded in 1997, and federal rules on over-the-air reception devices have changed what associations can enforce against small dishes since then, so ask the association how it applies this today rather than assuming either way.
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 →Lots must be kept in good and orderly fashion with landscaping in keeping with the pattern established in the subdivision, and no lot may be left overgrown or weed infested. The side, front and rear yards have to be planted with grass, sod or ground cover within one hundred twenty days after the house is finished or occupied, whichever comes first, unless the Architectural Control Committee approves something else, and on wooded lots the ground between the tree line and the curb must be planted as well. Tree removal is controlled: the Committee is given the exclusive right to approve or disapprove any tree being removed for a house, a driveway, landscaping or any other purpose, and the owner and the contractor have to give written notice and mark the trees with orange spray paint forty-eight hours before cutting. Screen planting between the building setback line and the front lot line may not exceed seventy-two inches. An undeveloped or vacant lot that is not kept clear can be mowed or cleared by the association at the owner's cost after ten days notice.
Mailboxes are to be uniform across the neighborhood, installed in front of each house, placed for easy mail and newspaper delivery, and landscaped. The recorded text says the mailbox should be of similar design and material to the house, or as the developer determines, and should have a newspaper receptacle directly beneath it, with brass numbers three inches tall on both sides of the mailbox or post so they can be read from traffic in either direction. Ask the association what the current standard box and post look like before replacing one.
Dogs, cats and other household pets may be kept, provided they are not kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose and are not allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard. No animals, livestock or poultry of any other kind may be raised, bred or kept on a lot. The paragraph ends with a flat line that no vicious or attack trained dogs may be kept on any lot. The document names no breeds, sets no weight limit, caps no number of pets, and has no leash sentence. A detached pet shelter is treated as a detached building, so it needs Architectural Control Committee approval and falls under the ten by twelve foot size cap.
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 permanent or paved recreational athletic facility, with basketball courts named alongside tennis and volleyball courts, may not be built or installed on a lot until the plans and specifications have been approved in writing by the Timber Ridge Architectural Control Committee, and any lighting for it needs that same prior approval. The recorded document does not mention a portable hoop or a pole-mounted hoop beside a driveway, so that case is not addressed by this wording. An unrecorded later draft in the same file would add a ban on hoops and backboards attached to a structure; it carries no recorder stamp and is covered in the note at the top of this page. Given that, ask the association where it currently stands on driveway hoops.
No sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a lot, with two exceptions written into the paragraph: one sign of not more than five square feet advertising the home for sale or rent, and a sign of any size used by a builder to advertise the property during the construction and sales period. The developer reserved the right to put up its own promotional signs, and no sign may promote the sale of an undeveloped lot except by the developer or with its written consent. The document says nothing about political, holiday or contractor signs, so it does not settle those.
No motor vehicle of any kind may be parked, kept, stored or otherwise maintained on any street or lawn area, and no vehicle may be parked on a street between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. That pushes regular parking onto driveways and into garages. Every dwelling is required to have a full size attached garage that holds at least two cars, and not more than three without written consent from the Architectural Control Committee. Driveways have to be concrete, at least twelve feet wide and at least four inches thick, and stone or cinder driveways are not permitted. A separate storage paragraph says a lot may not be used to store old cars or boats that would make it look unsightly, and recreational and commercial vehicles have their own rule, covered under the campers and boats question on this page.
The paragraph is headed Home Occupations, but the single sentence under that heading limits a lot to use as a single-family residence and sets out no home-occupation allowance at all. On the face of the recorded text, a business use of the property is not permitted. The sign rule points the same way, since the only sign allowed to a homeowner is a five square foot for-sale-or-rent sign. A quiet home office with no customers, no employees and no sign is the kind of case this wording does not squarely address, and an unrecorded later draft in the same file would have expressly permitted a home occupation carried on entirely inside the dwelling by a family member living there. That draft is not recorded, so ask the association how it treats this before relying on either reading.
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, garbage and other waste may not be kept except in sanitary containers, and the equipment used to store or dispose of it must be kept clean and sanitary. A lot may not be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish, grass clippings, leaves, tree limbs or compost, and grass clippings, leaves and other waste may not be put on anyone else's property in the neighborhood. Yard waste may be composted on your own lot as long as it is contained in a structure that blends with the house, does not hurt the look of the subdivision and does not become a nuisance. The restrictions also say trash pickup is to be completed on Monday of each week, with the association choosing the hauler by majority vote. During construction, debris has to be contained so it does not litter neighboring lots, and the association may clean it up at the owner's cost if it becomes a general nuisance.
This is one of the few covenants in the area that says anything at all about a grill. The burning paragraph bans open burning on any lot, whether in an incinerator, a container or otherwise, and then in the same sentence says that ban is not to be read as prohibiting a backyard barbecue. So a backyard barbecue sits outside the burning ban on the face of the recorded text, with no stated condition attached to it. The document does not separately address gas against charcoal, or where on a lot a grill may sit, and the general nuisance paragraph still applies to anything done on a lot. What the burning ban does cover is trash, waste, refuse, building materials, leaves, tree limbs, grass clippings and debris.
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.