What the recorded documents actually say about Villas at Waterford Commons P.U.D. in Goshen — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
7 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 Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions of The Villas at Waterford Commons, filed with the Elkhart County Recorder on January 23, 2004 as instrument 2004-02490, together with the one recorded amendment to it, filed November 6, 2009 as instrument 2009-26573. The amendment is applied throughout: it rescinded the one-year construction deadline, raised the lease limit from one year to two, and raised the permitted basement egress windows from one to two.
What this covers is the first Villas at Waterford Commons, the 8.33 acres platted on July 11, 2003 in Plat Book 26, page 58 as instrument 2003-28718, in Elkhart Township. The declaration describes that land by survey boundaries and never lists lot numbers, so if you are checking a particular address, the plat and your title work are what tie a lot to this declaration.
It does not cover Villas at Waterford Commons Second, which is a separate planned unit development on a separate plat recorded January 5, 2017 in Plat Book 36, page 71, covering lots 42 through 78. That one has its own declaration, made April 30, 2018 and recorded as Elkhart County instrument 2018-10831, creating a second association called The Villas at Waterford Commons II Homeowners' Association, Inc. A copy of that 2018 declaration was attached to one of the listings gathered under this neighborhood, and it was set aside here rather than used, because the two developments are governed by different instruments and they do not say the same things. If the home you are looking at sits on a lot numbered 42 or higher, the Second declaration is the one that governs it, not this page.
Two caveats worth carrying into any decision. The declaration lets the developer add adjacent land by recorded amendment, and only the 2009 amendment is in this file, so a later recorded change would not show up here. And the covenants run to May 1, 2027 before renewing automatically, so it is worth confirming the current recorded set with the association or a title company rather than relying on a copy attached to an old listing.
Perimeter fencing is out. A privacy fence can be used, but only to screen a patio, a deck or a similar area, and only after the Architectural Control Committee approves it. The declaration gives no height, material or color standard, so those tend to be the committee's call rather than something the document settles.
Storage sheds and outside buildings are prohibited on any lot, and the declaration gives the reason as the size of the lots and the uniform look it is after. A separate paragraph on temporary structures repeats the point, barring any trailer, mobile home, tent, shack, barn, tool shed, storage shed or other outbuilding, with the only exception being a construction trailer while the home is being built.
This is a time limit with a permitted place, not a flat ban. Snowmobiles, boats, trailers, recreational vehicles, motorcycles and dune buggies may not sit outside a permitted structure on a homesite for longer than 48 hours, which leaves a vehicle kept inside a permitted structure such as a garage unaddressed by that sentence. Note that the same paragraph bars using a homesite to store motor vehicles, and on-street parking is separately capped at 12 hours in any 24.
Pools, hot tubs and similar devices or structures are prohibited on any lot, along with tennis courts, and the declaration ties the ban to the size of the lots. It draws no line between an in-ground pool and a portable one, and it names no approval route.
Nothing may be built, placed or altered on a homesite, and the lot's natural topography and drainage may not be changed, until the builder and the construction plans have been approved in writing by the Architectural Control Committee. Plans must show the floor plan, exterior type and finish, materials, outside colors, how the design sits with existing structures, and the location relative to the lot lines, and two complete sets go in. Driveways are covered too: at least ten feet wide, matching the garage door width, and concrete unless the committee approves another material in writing, with stone and cinder outside what the committee may approve. One thing worth raising with the association: the declaration says the committee's authority expires fifteen years after the plat is recorded, and the plat for this phase was recorded in July 2003, so on the face of the documents that window has closed.
A satellite dish is allowed with conditions. The declaration caps it at eighteen inches in circumference, except where state or federal law requires otherwise, and it must be attached on the back half of the roof in an inconspicuous spot, with the location approved by the committee. The same paragraph requires all public utility services, cable television included, to run underground and stay out of sight. Federal rules on antennas have moved since 2004, so the association is the place to confirm how this is applied today.
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 →Landscaping is held unusually close here, and the association does most of it. Lawn and landscaping plans must be submitted and approved by the committee in writing before construction, down to the location, type, size and variety of trees, shrubs and plants, and the association then maintains the lawns to the approved plan. It handles regular mowing, basic landscaping maintenance and the irrigation system, and it sets when and how much each lot is watered while the owner pays for that water. Gardens are permitted for flowers or a few vegetables for the owner's own use, capped at 150 square feet, with nothing growing over 32 inches tall, kept free of weeds and debris year round, and the location approved in advance. Compost piles are prohibited.
Every home must have a mailbox, kept in working order and looked after by the owner, and the committee sets one uniform style for the whole development. Newspaper boxes are expressly prohibited. The declaration does not describe the style itself, so the association is where the current standard lives.
Pets are allowed within limits, and the dog limit is a weight limit rather than a head count: dogs not over 20 pounds, cats, and other common household pets. Pot bellied pigs are expressly excluded from what counts as a household pet. No pet may be kept, bred or maintained for commercial purposes or become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard. Any pet must be leashed and attended at all times, pets may not be left outside the home at night, and the owner has to clean up after them immediately on the lot, in the common areas and on the streets. The association decides any question about whether a given pet qualifies.
Renting is permitted, with a ceiling on the term. The 2009 amendment replaced the original one-year line with two years: no lease may be entered into for more than two years without the association's prior approval. The owner stays responsible for all assessments, and a tenant is jointly and severally responsible for assessments that come due during the lease. One thing to raise with the association: a later paragraph of the 2004 declaration, headed Leases, still carries the original one-year figure and the amendment did not touch it, so the two paragraphs read differently and the association is the place to settle which it applies. Neither document says anything about short-term or nightly renting.
The declaration never uses the word basketball, so read the wording rather than the topic name. The playground-equipment paragraph expressly prohibits sandboxes, swing sets, slides, gazebos and trampolines, and then, in general words, other yard structures, devices and play ground equipment anywhere on a homesite, with the stated reasons being the small lots and the association's lawn maintenance. The only yard item it allows is one single-pole shade umbrella on a rear patio. A goal fixed to the house or garage would also be an exterior change needing committee approval, so either way this tends to be a conversation with the association before anything goes up.
One for-sale sign of no more than five square feet is the allowance for an owner. Builders may use a sign of reasonable dimension during construction and sales, and the declarant reserved the right to put up its own signs to promote sales regardless of those limits. Anything else displayed to public view is out. The declaration says nothing about political, contractor or security signs, and Indiana law has addressed some sign types since 2004, so a sign that is not a for-sale sign is worth checking with the association.
On-street parking is prohibited as a rule, and the declaration names Carina Circle specifically, with the stated goal of keeping the private roadways clear. It then allows it on the shared roadways on two conditions that apply together: no vehicle parked more than twelve hours in any twenty-four hour day measured midnight to midnight, and the parking must not block free ingress and egress. Separately, a homesite may not be used to store motor vehicles, lumber, firewood, materials, junk, waste, debris or grass clippings, and driveways must be at least ten feet wide and concrete unless the committee approves another material.
A home occupation is permitted, but the conditions are strict and they stack. The use has to be entirely inside the home and carried on solely by a member of the immediate family living there, and it has to stay clearly incidental and secondary to living there. There can be no exterior sign or display, no commodity sold on the lot, nobody employed who is not immediate family living there, and no mechanical or electrical equipment used. The declaration then names businesses that are never a home occupation here, among them a barber shop, styling salon, beauty parlor, tea room, fortune-telling parlor, animal hospital, and any form of animal care or treatment business 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, garbage and other waste have to be in sanitary containers, and the containers and any disposal equipment stay indoors except for pickup. Containers may go out no earlier than twelve hours before the expected pickup time. No lot may be used as a dumping ground for rubbish, and each owner is responsible for arranging routine pickup unless and until a government unit takes it over.
The declaration never uses the word grill, so read what the fires paragraph actually reaches. It bars fires, campfires, campfire pits, burn pits and other types of incineration devices from functioning, operating or being placed on any street or roadway, within any homesite, or in any common area. No exception for cooking is written into it, so a charcoal fire is caught by those words on their face. A gas grill may be a different question, since it is not burning fuel the way an incineration device does, and the document does not answer that either way, which makes it one to confirm with the association before relying on it.
Permanent and temporary clotheslines and clothes drying devices are both prohibited on a homesite, and the same sentence bars regular or repeated hanging of laundry, rugs or other items outside the home. The clause carries a visible scanning slip in the words near its end, but the prohibition itself reads the same way in all three copies on file.
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.