What the recorded documents actually say about Villas at Waterford Commons Second P.U.D. in Goshen — 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
Read this first, because it affects how much weight to put on everything above. The copy of this declaration that circulates with listings in this neighborhood, and the copy these answers come from, is not an executed one. It is dated April 30, 2018, and it is complete and internally consistent, but every signature line in it is blank, every notary block is blank including the day and the month, the space for the developer's notice address is left empty, and it carries no recorder's stamp and no instrument number of its own. That is the signature of a final draft or an unexecuted file copy, not of a recorded instrument. A recorded version may well exist and be identical in substance, and the plat it is built on is certainly recorded, but nothing on this copy proves it. So treat the answers above as what this document says, and have your title company pull the recorded declaration and any amendments for the lot you are buying before you rely on any of it. That is a routine title-search request and it settles the question.
What land it is written for. The declaration covers lots on the recorded plat of Villas at Waterford Commons Second, P.U.D., recorded January 5, 2017 in Plat Book 36, page 71, as instrument 2017-00266, being 7.853 acres. Its exhibits list the lots one by one, and together they come to lots 42 through 78 inclusive: lots 42 through 52, 54 through 58 and 60 through 77 held by the developer, plus lots 53, 59 and 78, which had already been sold and whose owners signed on so the same rules would reach their lots too. If the lot you are looking at is not in that range, these are not its rules.
The neighbouring first phase is a different subdivision with different covenants, and the two get confused. The Villas at Waterford Commons, the earlier plat next door, has its own declaration recorded January 23, 2004 as instrument 2004-02490, amended October 20, 2009 by instrument 2009-26573. Those cover a separate 8.33-acre plat in Plat Book 26, page 58, and they are not what answers anything above. They differ in real ways: the first phase allows leases up to two years before association approval is needed, where this one sets the line at one year. Make sure the document you are handed names Waterford Commons II, or Second, and not just Waterford Commons.
The association By-Laws and Articles of Incorporation are referred to throughout and are not in the file, so anything that depends on them is unanswered here, including the meeting and voting procedure, any fine schedule, and any rules the board has adopted since 2018. The declaration also contemplates that the developer may expand the subdivision onto adjacent land. Ask the association for the By-Laws, the current rules, the assessment amount, and whether control has been turned over from the developer.
Perimeter fencing is flatly out. In the declaration's words, No perimeter fencing of any type shall be allowed. What is possible is a privacy fence, and only for screening a patio, deck or similar area, and only after the Architectural Control Committee approves it. Privacy panels are also specifically allowed on the east border of Lot 59 and the south border of Lot 58, again subject to Committee approval. Any approved fence or panel must meet five minimum standards: no more than six feet tall, white and of vinyl or similar material that does not need painting or regular upkeep, essentially maintenance free with the owner still responsible for its structure and appearance at all times, placed clear of utility and gas line easements, and maintained so the association can still get in to do the yard and landscaping work.
No shed, and no outside building of any kind. The declaration is explicit about it and gives the reason: the lots are small and a uniform appearance is wanted. There is no approval route written in and no size or screening exception. A separate paragraph also bars any structure of a temporary character, and names trailers, mobile homes, tents, shacks, garages, barns, tool sheds, storage sheds and other outbuildings, temporarily or permanently, with the single exception of a construction trailer while the house is being built. So storage here means the attached garage or the basement.
The declaration sets a 48-hour limit rather than a flat ban, and the permitted place is inside a structure. Snowmobiles, boats, trailers, recreational vehicles, motorcycles and dune buggies may not be parked outside of permitted structures on a homesite for longer than forty-eight hours. Motorcycles are in that list, which is unusual and worth noticing. Two other paragraphs tighten what that leaves in practice: sheds and outside buildings of any kind are prohibited, so the only permitted structure on a lot is the attached garage, and a separate sentence says no homesite shall be used for storage of lumber, firewood, motor vehicles, materials, junk, waste, debris or grass clippings. The streets are private and on-street parking is capped at twelve hours in a day, so the street is not an alternative either. Measure your garage before you count on keeping anything larger than a car here.
No pool of any kind, and no hot tub. The declaration prohibits tennis courts, pools, hot tubs and other similar devices or structures on any lot, and gives the reason as the limited size of the lots. There is no distinction drawn between in-ground and above-ground, and no approval route is written in. A rear-yard patio with one single-pole shade umbrella is the outdoor arrangement the declaration does contemplate.
Nothing is built, placed, maintained or altered on a lot without the Architectural Control Committee's written approval first, and the paragraph says so in those terms: no dwelling unit or other structure or improvement shall be erected, constructed, placed, maintained or altered on any homesite, and the natural topography or drainage may not be altered, until the builder and the plans have been approved. The plans must show the floor plan, exterior type and finish, materials, outside colors, harmony of external design with existing structures, and location relative to lot lines, and two complete sets must be submitted. The Committee answers in writing, nothing may be built that does not fully comply with the approved plans, and no change or deviation may be made without its prior written consent. The Committee is the Board of Directors or people it designates, and the declaration says its decision is entirely within its discretion. One limit is worth knowing: the declaration says the Committee's authority expires fifteen years after the plat on which the lot sits was recorded. The plat was recorded in January 2017, so ask the association how it treats that date.
A dish is permitted, with placement controlled. All public utility service, including cable television, must be underground and not visible. A satellite dish not exceeding one meter in circumference is then permitted on any homesite, subject to being attached on the back one-half of the roof of the house in an inconspicuous location, with that location approved by the Committee. The declaration also says the limit applies except as otherwise required to be permitted by applicable state or federal law, which is the document's own acknowledgement that federal rules on reception devices may reach further than the paragraph does.
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 →This is the part that makes the neighborhood work the way it does, and it cuts both ways. The association does the basic lawn care on the lots, meaning regular yard mowing and maintenance, basic landscaping maintenance, and controlling the irrigation, and the lawns and landscaping as approved are maintained and cared for by the association. Owners authorize the association and its designees to come onto the lots to do it, and the association regulates the times and amounts of irrigation while each owner pays for their own water. The flip side is that the owner does not choose the planting. Lawn and landscaping plans go to the Committee for written approval before construction, with the location, type, size and variety of trees, shrubs and plants spelled out. Above-ground lawn sprinkler devices are expressly prohibited, as are sandboxes, swing sets, slides, gazebos, trampolines and other yard structures or devices. A garden is permitted for flowers or a few vegetables for the owner's own use, capped at one hundred fifty square feet with nothing growing above thirty-two inches, kept free of weeds and debris year round, with the location approved in advance so it does not get in the way of the mowing. Compost piles and similar organic recycling piles are not permitted. One single-pole shade umbrella is permitted, on a rear yard patio only.
The owner supplies the mailbox and the association sets the look. Each house must have a mailbox provided by the owner, kept in good working order and maintained aesthetically at all times by the owner. The Committee establishes a uniform style for mailboxes and approves the location of all of them. A newspaper receptacle may be built into the approved mailbox, but a separate newspaper box is expressly prohibited. The declaration does not print the style, so ask the association which box is current before buying one. Each house also has to have one exterior pole light, photo-electrically controlled, on from dusk to dawn, kept in good working condition by the owner, at a standard distance from the sidewalk that the Committee sets.
Pets are allowed with real numbers attached, which is unusual for this county. The declaration permits, in its words, up to two (2) dogs (not to exceed 80 pounds each), a reasonable number of cats, and/or other common household pets. The conditions: kept on the homesite, leashed or secured at all times, not kept or bred for any commercial purpose, and not permitted to become a neighborhood nuisance or hazard, which the declaration says includes being left unattended for extended periods and excessive barking. Pot bellied pigs are specifically excluded from counting as household pets. Pets may not be left outside the house at night. The owner is responsible for immediate clean-up of pet waste on their own lot, on all common areas, and on all streets and roadways in the subdivision, and the declaration puts that sentence in capital letters. The association decides all questions about whether a particular pet is permitted.
Renting is allowed, with a one-year line. The declaration says, in capital letters, that no lease of any dwelling unit may be entered into for more than one year without the prior approval of the association. Shorter than that and no approval is written as required. The owner stays responsible for all assessments whoever is living there, and the tenant becomes jointly and severally liable for assessments arising during the lease or the tenant's use of the house. There is no cap on how many houses may be rented, no registration requirement and no minimum term in the document. Worth knowing: the neighbouring first phase of Villas at Waterford Commons has its own separate covenants with a two-year line rather than one, so do not read one subdivision's rule onto the other.
The declaration never uses the words basketball, hoop or backboard, so this is a judgment the Committee makes rather than one the document settles. What it does say is that yard structures and devices are prohibited generally, naming sandboxes, swing sets, slides, gazebos and trampolines, and giving the reason as the small lots and the association's lawn maintenance arrangements. Playground equipment is then permitted, but only after prior written Committee approval of size, type, materials and location, and any approved equipment must be fully contained inside an area surrounded by landscape edging. A pole-mounted hoop standing in the yard reads as a yard structure under that paragraph, which means the approval route is the only way in. A hoop mounted on the house or garage over the driveway is not addressed by that paragraph at all, though the architectural control paragraph requires written approval before altering the house. Either way, get the Committee's answer in writing before you buy one.
One sign, five square feet, and only to sell. No sign of any kind may be displayed to public view on a homesite except one sign of not more than five square feet advertising the property for sale, or a sign of reasonable dimension used by builders during the construction and sales periods. The developer reserved a separate right to put up whatever signs it wants to promote sales in the development. The home occupation paragraph is cross-referenced as a possible exception, but that paragraph itself forbids any sign or display indicating from the outside that the house is used for anything other than a residence, so it does not open a door. Political signs, contractor signs, security signs and holiday displays are not named either way, so the general ban is what to plan around.
The streets here are private and the declaration treats them that way. On-street parking on the roadways of the subdivision, Newbury Circle named specifically, is prohibited as a general rule, and the stated goal is keeping those private roadways open for getting in and out. It is then permitted on two conditions, both of which must hold: no vehicle parked for more than twelve hours in any twenty-four hour day running midnight to midnight, and no parking of any vehicle or combination of vehicles that blocks free and unimpeded access to or from the subdivision or the houses in it. Driveways must be Committee-approved, concrete unless another material is approved in writing, at least ten feet wide and matching the garage door width; stone and cinder driveways are not permitted. A separate sentence says no homesite shall be used for storage of motor vehicles, among other things. Recreational vehicles, boats, trailers and motorcycles have their own forty-eight hour rule, covered under the recreational vehicles question.
A home occupation is permitted, and every one of the conditions has to hold. The use must be conducted entirely within the house and participated in solely by a member of the immediate family living there, and it must be clearly incidental and secondary to living there without changing the character of the house. On top of that: no sign or display indicating from the outside that the building is used for anything other than a residence; no commodity sold on the lot; nobody employed other than an immediate family member living on the lot; and no mechanical or electrical equipment used. Several businesses are named as never qualifying: 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. Note that unlike many covenants this one does not carve out electrical office equipment, so a literal reading of the no-equipment condition is strict.
The declaration never uses the words short-term, nightly, weekly or vacation rental, and names no platform. What it does is set a line at one year: no lease of a dwelling unit may be entered into for more than one year without the association's prior approval. As written, that requirement is triggered by a term longer than a year, so a shorter stay does not meet it, and no minimum term appears anywhere in the document. The use restriction still applies, because no homesite may be used for any purpose other than as a single-family residence, and the owner remains liable for assessments while any tenant is jointly and severally liable for assessments arising during their use of the house. Since the document does not address the question directly, and the association can adopt rules, get its written position before buying with a short-term rental in mind.
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 containers live indoors and go out on a clock. Trash, garbage and other waste must be kept inside sanitary containers, and loose trash bags are not permitted. All equipment for storing or disposing of it must be kept clean and sanitary and kept indoors except for pickup, and may be put outside for pickup no earlier than twelve hours before the expected pickup time. No homesite may be used as a dumping ground for rubbish. Each owner is responsible for arranging their own routine trash pickup and removal unless and until a governmental unit takes it over, so budget for a private hauler and ask the association what the neighbourhood currently uses. Garden waste is covered separately: compost piles and similar organic recycling piles are not permitted, and grass clippings may not be stored on a lot.
The fires paragraph here is as broad as they come, and it has no exception written into it. It bars fires, campfires, campfire pits, burn pits, and other types of incineration devices from functioning, operating, or being placed upon any street or roadway in the subdivision, within any homesite, or in any common area. The declaration never uses the word grill or barbecue, so it does not name the thing a buyer is asking about, but a charcoal grill is a fire placed within a homesite and the words reach it on their face. A gas grill may be a different question, since it is arguably not an incineration device, except that a second paragraph bars fuel storage tanks of any type or character from being installed underground, concealed within the house, basement or attached garage, or in any way placed upon or in any homesite, and a propane cylinder may fall inside that wording too. Both paragraphs are quoted here because this is a question worth settling with the association in writing before you move in.
Drying laundry outside is addressed directly and closed off both ways. The declaration prohibits regular or repeated hanging of laundry, rugs or other items outside the house, and separately says no permanent or temporary clotheslines or clothes drying devices shall be placed on the homesite. Because it names temporary devices as well as permanent ones, a portable rack or a retractable line is covered by the same sentence. There is no approval route and no screened-location exception written in.
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.