What the recorded documents actually say about Villas at Lake Blackthorn in South Bend — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
21 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
The subdivision is 114 homesites numbered 1 through 114, Sections I and II, platted by Cooreman Real Estate Group, Inc. in St. Joseph County. Three of the scanned documents in this input are the same instrument: hoa__villas-lake-blackthorn holds the 2006 amendment followed by the superseded 2005 declaration, and hoa__villas-lake-blackthorn__2 and __3 are duplicate scans of the 2006 amendment alone. Head-agent note: the name Westwood Knolls at Blackthorn appears twice inside these Villas documents and once as a stray page footer in the superseded 2005 declaration - Westwood Knolls is a separate neighboring subdivision by the same developer whose residents share the lake access easement on lots 84 and 85 and the pedestrian walkway easement. That footer is a template artifact, not a sign that this is Westwood Knolls' covenant: every title block, the definitions section and the signature pages name The Villas at Lake Blackthorn.
A fence needs the Design Review Committee's written approval before anything is installed, and the approval covers placement, style, color, material and height. Fences may not go in easement areas unless the committee approves that in writing, and the committee reserved the sole right to prohibit fencing entirely on certain lots, with underground electric pet containment systems carved out as the exception. The design review form attached to the declaration adds that approved fencing is to be poly vinyl, powder coated or similar material with written committee approval, and that fencing may not substantially block a neighboring lot's view of the lake. Two other limits catch fences: on corner lots nothing between two and six feet above the roadway may sit in the sight triangle twenty-five feet back from the intersection, and the drainage swale inside the rear setback of several numbered lots may not be obstructed with trees, landscaping or fences.
Detached storage buildings are out. The declaration bans their construction and their placement outright, and a separate paragraph bans structures of a temporary character - the list names trailer, basement, tent, shack, garage, barn, tool shed, storage shed or other outbuilding of any nature - at any time, temporarily or permanently, with the only exception being a construction trailer while the house is being built. The developer's design review checklist attached to the declaration does carry a yard barn line, so if a shed matters to you, get the committee's or the association's position in writing before you rely on either one.
Campers, trailers, trucks, dune buggies and boats may not be kept in open areas anywhere in the subdivision, and the covenant reaches open areas off your lot as well as on it - there is no driveway or side-yard exception written into it. The same paragraph bars using any of them as a temporary residence. Motor homes, mobile homes, modular homes, house trailers, school buses and semi tractors and trailers are separately prohibited, and occupying a motor home as a residence is not permitted. On the water side, permanent storage of any boat or recreational equipment on the shoreline is prohibited, and only non-motorized craft are allowed on the lake at all - sailboats under ten feet, windsurf boards, canoes, rowboats, paddle boats and kayaks, owned by a resident and registered with the association.
Only a permanently installed, fully in-ground pool is allowed here. Above-ground, on-ground and partially in-ground pools are all banned, and the declaration spells out that the intent is to prevent temporary pools that sit on top of or partly into the ground, no matter what deck is planned around them. A permitted in-ground pool still needs the Design Review Committee's written approval of size, placement, materials, and the fencing or pool cover, before installation. The committee decides what kind of barrier the pool gets and may require additional screening of the pool area, and any cover or fence has to meet local and state barrier codes. The design review form adds that pool equipment is to be screened from surrounding areas. Tennis courts are prohibited unless the committee approves them in writing.
Changes to the outside of the house go through the Design Review Committee in writing, first. Nothing may be erected, constructed, placed, maintained or altered on a lot - and the natural topography and drainage may not be altered either - until the committee approves the plans, and the plans have to show floor plan, any porch or deck design, quality of construction, materials, outside colors, how the design sits with existing structures, and location relative to lot lines, topography and finish grade. The same gate applies after you move in: an owner may not paint, decorate or change the appearance of any part of the exterior in a way that varies from the approved plans without the committee's prior written approval, and repainting or restaining has to use a color and quality the association approves in advance, at least every five years or as needed. Exterior materials are fixed by an approved list attached to the declaration covering siding, brick and stone, windows, trim, shutters, roofing, chimneys, garage doors, porches, driveways and exterior lighting. If the association notifies an owner that exterior maintenance is needed and it is not done within ninety days, the association may do the work and charge it back as an additional common expense. Yard decorations, ornaments and yard furniture require written pre-approval; temporary seasonal and holiday decorations and lights are permitted on the exterior, but the association reserves the right to require changes to or removal of any display it considers unsightly, offensive or obnoxious.
One satellite dish per homesite, no larger than one meter in diameter, and it cannot go in the front or side yard. It has to be placed, to the extent feasible, where it is not visible from the street or other common property, the committee has to approve placement and size before it goes up, and the committee may require screening around it. Outside above-ground television, AM, FM and short wave radio antennas of any type are prohibited on lots and structures.
Solar panels are addressed directly and they are an approval item, not a ban: the Design Review Committee has to approve both the installation and the location in writing before construction. The declaration sets no size, placement or roof-face limit of its own, so what the committee will accept is not written down here - get its position in writing before ordering equipment.
Landscaping here is committee-controlled and largely association-maintained. All landscaping and plantings are to be installed by a committee-approved contractor, and an owner may plant or maintain flowers, trees, shrubs or other plant material only in accordance with the landscaping plan the committee approved. Yards - side, front and rear - must be planted in grass seed, sod or ground cover and landscaped within 120 days, weather permitting, of the house being completed or occupied, whichever comes first. Lake and pond frontage lots have to run commercial grade edging and small landscape stone of committee-approved material along the water's edge, over a porous weed barrier. Screen planting over thirty-six inches high between the building setback line and the front lot line needs written pre-approval, none over thirty-six inches is allowed within thirty feet of a lake or pond shoreline, and no screen planting or tree that blocks other waterfront owners' view of the water is permitted anywhere on a shoreline area or back yard - the association may trim offending trees at the owner's expense if the owner does not. Trees over sixteen inches in diameter may not be removed unless actually necessary for construction, and a tree fifteen feet or taller that dies or is badly damaged has to be removed by the owner at the owner's expense. Homeowners who put in more than the recommended plantings may be charged more to maintain them.
Mailboxes are a standardized item here rather than an owner's choice. The design review form attached to the declaration has the owner certify the mailbox style and color meets the approved size and design standards, and lists the choices as masonry in the same brick or stone as the home, a villa style box, or a Step 2 style box in a stated color. Locations are set by the postal authority and by a map of mandatory mailbox locations attached to that form, the box sits 42 to 48 inches from the street to the bottom of the box, and it goes 10 feet before or 20 feet after a driveway. The declaration adds that the front of the mailbox should be two feet from the edge of the pavement, or even with the edge of a stone or paved shoulder but no closer than two feet to the pavement, and that a brick mailbox goes one foot behind the concrete curb or as the city's right-of-way standard requires, whichever is more restrictive. The city maintains the roadway in that strip and is not responsible for damage to mailboxes in it, and association snow removal does not include clearing around mailboxes.
Dogs, cats and other household pets are allowed. The conditions are that they are not kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose and are not permitted to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard in any manner, and that no dog is permitted to run at large. Raising, breeding or keeping animals, livestock or poultry of any kind beyond household pets is prohibited. No number limit is written into the document, and the only fencing option the committee expressly preserved on lots where it may prohibit fencing is an underground electric pet containment system. Any form of animal care or treatment run as a business - dog trimming is the example given - is excluded from the home occupation allowance.
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 basketball post with a mounted backboard is not automatically yours to install - it needs the Design Review Committee's written approval, and so does a basketball court or tennis court. The design review form asks whether any basketball hoops are being proposed and requires a description and a picture with the submission. The declaration sets no rule about portable hoops specifically, and no height, color or placement standard is written down, so the committee's written answer is the whole test.
One sign, and it has to be the right kind. No sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a lot or home - the covenant expressly includes political signs and signs advertising viewpoints or support for candidates, and items for sale - except a single sign of not more than five square feet advertising the home for sale or rent. Signs or notices may be displayed inside the windows of the dwelling. A vacant lot may not carry a sign advertising the lot or its asking price for resale, except signs of approved builders or the developer, unless the committee approves it in writing. The developer reserved the exclusive right to place its own signs, benches, information boxes and advertising fixtures in the landscape and signage easements and entrance islands while it is still selling.
Street parking is out except temporarily for guests, and driveway parking is capped: the number of cars parked in the driveway may not exceed the number of garage doors on the house, again with a carve-out for guests parking temporarily. So a two-car garage means two cars in the driveway. Houses are limited to a private garage for not more than three cars. Recreational and commercial vehicles - campers, trailers, trucks, dune buggies, boats - may not be kept in open areas on or off the lot. No lot may be used for the storage of old lumber, cars, materials or debris. This driveway cap is one of the things the 2006 restatement added; the earlier 2005 version of the covenants did not contain it.
A home occupation is permitted, inside a narrow definition. The use has to be conducted entirely within the residence, carried on solely by a member of the immediate family living there, and be clearly incidental and secondary to the home's use as a home. Four conditions come with it: no sign or display indicating from the outside that the building is used for anything but a dwelling; no commodity sold on the premises; no employee other than a family member living there; and no mechanical or electrical equipment used. The covenant then names trades that can never qualify - 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. Otherwise lots are for single-family residential use only.
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 has to be kept in sanitary containers, and no lot may be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish or brush. Incinerators and any other equipment for storing or disposing of waste must be kept clean and sanitary. No lot may be used to store old lumber, cars, materials or debris, and grass clippings are named as debris. Firewood may be stored on a lot but has to be stacked in an orderly, sightly manner. Nothing may be dumped or burned on a shoreline area or into a lake or pond - leaves, grass clippings, trash or other rubbish - and no fire may burn on any street or roadway in the subdivision. The covenant sets no rule about when cans go to the curb or how long they can stay there; the board has authority to adopt rules like that separately.
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 →Hanging laundry outdoors is prohibited anywhere on a lot. The sentence sits in the nuisance paragraph and is flat - it names no exception for a retractable line, a drying rack or a screened area.
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 →Signs and notices may be displayed inside the windows of the dwelling. That is written as an exception to an otherwise strict ban on signs visible from outside - a for-sale or for-rent sign of up to five square feet is the only other one allowed on the lot - and the document attaches no size, subject-matter or approval condition to what goes inside the glass. Separately, temporary seasonal and holiday decorations and lights are permitted on the exterior of the home, but the association reserves the right to require modification or removal of a display it considers unsightly, offensive or obnoxious, and yard decorations, ornaments and yard furniture need written pre-approval.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.