What the recorded documents actually say about Villas of River Park in Middlebury — 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
This is an attached villa condominium in a planned unit development, not a conventional subdivision, and the documents read that way. The association owns or controls nearly everything outside the walls: it maintains the roofs, exterior walls, foundations, party walls, lawns, irrigation, driveways, patios, decks, sidewalks, mailboxes and ponds, and no exterior alteration or exterior maintenance beyond routine cleaning may be started without a committee's prior approval. Several restrictions are heavier than most neighborhoods in the area: occupancy is capped at two adults plus their children, their parents and a caregiver unless the board approves an exception; every buyer or occupant must go through a board orientation program as a condition of the sale or occupancy agreement; a for-sale sign must go in a window and may not exceed 18 by 24 inches; no car may sit on a driveway more than 24 consecutive hours; recreational toys and equipment are barred property-wide; and nothing may be placed in the lawn area of a villa. Solar and short-term rental are not addressed anywhere in these documents.
A fence is not something an owner puts up on their own judgment here. The architectural-control article names fences directly: no dwelling unit, fence or other structure may be commenced, erected, maintained, improved, altered or made by an owner without the prior approval of the Architectural Control Committee, and the same article requires prior approval for any improvement, alteration, repair, color change, excavation or change in grade. The committee is three or more owners appointed by the board. If it does not approve, modify or disapprove an application in writing within 30 days of getting it with all required plans and drawings, approval is deemed granted. A decision can be appealed to the board in writing within 30 days, and the board can reverse or modify it by a three-fourths vote of the directors then serving. No height, material, setback or placement standard for a fence is written into the documents, so the committee sets those. One thing worth understanding before asking: the ground around each villa is not private yard. The patio, deck, open porch, doorstep, sidewalk and driveway are owned by the unit owner; the surrounding ground is a limited common area owned undivided by all owners and maintained by the association.
Sheds and outbuildings are not named anywhere in these documents. What covers them is the catch-all in the architectural-control article: no structure of any kind may be erected, altered or maintained by an owner without prior approval of the Architectural Control Committee, which has 30 days to answer in writing before approval is deemed granted. A related use restriction says nothing visible from other dwelling units may be stored under decks or porches, and the common and limited common areas have to be kept free of rubbish, debris and other unsightly materials. There is no size, height or material standard written down for an accessory building, and no clause that expressly permits one.
Recreational vehicles, boats, campers and trailers may not be kept on the property. The 2023 amendment to Article XVI says no boats, campers, trailers of any kind, buses, mobile homes, trucks, motorcycles, mini bikes, mopeds or any other vehicle other than a normal passenger automobile, sport utility vehicle or pickup truck displaying current license plates may be permitted, parked or stored anywhere on the real estate. The one exception written into the document is storage completely enclosed inside a garage. The 2023 amendment added a narrow working window that the 2004 text did not have: a homeowner's RV is allowed on the property for loading, unloading and cleaning only, for no more than 48 hours.
No clause in these documents names a private swimming pool, above ground or in ground. Three things bear on one. Anything built, erected or altered needs prior approval of the Architectural Control Committee. A separate use restriction says no swing sets, sandboxes or recreational toys or equipment are permitted on the real estate unless provided by the board. And the ground a pool would sit on is limited common area maintained by the association, not private yard. On the community ponds the documents are flat: no swimming, ice skating or throwing of stones or other items into or on any pond, for insurance and pond maintenance reasons, and the lawns of dwelling units are never to be treated as a recreational area.
This is the heart of how this community runs, and it is strict. Nothing that alters the outside of a villa gets done without approval first. The architectural-control article requires prior Architectural Control Committee approval for any improvement, alteration, repair, change of color, excavation, change in grade or other work that alters a phase or the improvements on it. Article XVI adds that nothing may be affixed to or placed on the exterior walls, roofs or any other part of a dwelling unit without prior consent of the board, and that no owner may paint or repaint any part of the exterior a different color or shade without written board approval. It also bars an owner from initiating any exterior maintenance beyond routine cleaning without the Maintenance Committee's approval, and names roof, door jamb, gutter and heat tape work and any change or repair to a deck or porch as examples. Exterior sidewalk safety lighting and hand railings need Architectural Committee approval of the specific fixture before it is bought, are paid for by the owner, and stay the owner's to maintain. If an approved change damages the landscaping or the sprinkler system, the repair is at the owner's expense. The committee has 30 days to answer in writing or approval is deemed granted, and a denial can be appealed to the board within 30 days.
A satellite dish is permitted if it is small and approved first. The document allows dishes for reception of electronic signals with a diameter of 18 inches or less, if inconspicuously located and appropriately landscaped, and requires that the plans for the installation and the landscaping be approved by the board. A dish larger than 18 inches is not provided for. Separately, no radio or television antenna or other attachment may be affixed to or placed on the exterior walls, roofs or any other part of a dwelling unit without prior consent of the board.
Solar panels and solar collectors are not named anywhere in these documents, so there is no solar-specific standard and no solar-specific ban. Two general clauses reach them. Article XVI says no attachment or thing may be affixed to or placed upon the exterior walls or roofs or any other part of a dwelling unit without the prior consent of the board. The architectural-control article separately requires prior committee approval for any alteration of the improvements. It is also worth knowing that the association, not the owner, maintains, repairs and replaces the roof, roof flashing, exterior walls and foundation of each building, so anything mounted on a roof here touches what the association is responsible for. Ask the board before assuming either way.
Landscaping is largely the association's job, not the owner's, and the owner's own planting is tightly bounded. No owner may remove, trim or prune any tree or shrub planted by the declarant without written approval of the Grounds Maintenance Committee, and no owner may plant a tree or shrub without that committee's prior approval. Perennial flowers may only go in areas the board designates, or with the committee's prior approval. What an owner may have without asking: potted plants and planted annuals, hanging plants held by free-standing supports, and potted plants at the entrance to the unit, along the perimeter of the unit within the planting area, and in the mulched area around trees. Plant holders and supports for annuals and vines are allowed as long as they come out in the off season. No decor, flags or other decorative items are permitted in the planting areas except potted plants, annuals and bird equipment, meaning birdfeeders, birdbaths and birdhouses. No items at all are permitted in the lawn area of any villa, and no owner may repair or change any part of the sprinkling system. On the association's side, it waters, fertilizes, mows and replants the lawns and cares for, fertilizes, trims, removes and replaces trees and shrubs the declarant planted; it does not maintain plants an owner added, and it reserves the right to remove them. If an approved architectural change damages the landscaping or the sprinkler system, the owner pays for the repair.
Mailboxes are the association's to install and keep up, not the owner's. The maintenance article puts the installation, repair, replacement, maintenance and upkeep of the mailbox structures and the mailboxes or mail receptacles on the corporation, paid for through the assessments, and does the same for the light standards. No clause gives an owner the right to put in, replace or decorate a mailbox, and anything affixed to or placed on the exterior of a building needs prior board consent. Treat a change to a mailbox as something to ask the board about.
Household pets are allowed with real conditions attached, and the 2023 amendment tightened them. No animals, livestock or poultry may be raised, bred or kept, except that pet dogs, cats or customary household pets may be kept in a dwelling unit, provided the pet is not kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose and does not create a nuisance. Pets go outdoors only under leash or other restraint and while attended, and the document says plainly that tethering a pet outside the unit does not count as attended. Pets must be taken to one of three designated Type II common areas for elimination, which the amendment names as the front entrance to the community, the sidewalk to Riverbend Park, and the rear road to CR 116. The owner picks up and properly disposes of the waste and is responsible for the cost of lawn repair in any area affected by it. Feeding stations or feeders for wild animals such as deer, squirrels and raccoons need written board approval first. The board may adopt further pet rules and may require a security deposit against damage, refundable when the pet is permanently removed. A pet the board judges to be causing a nuisance or unreasonable disturbance or noise must be permanently removed within 10 days of written notice. An owner is fully liable for injury or damage caused by a pet. No number, weight or breed limit is written into the document.
Nothing in these documents bans leasing, caps how many units may be leased, or sets a minimum lease term, and the declaration clearly contemplates tenants: an owner may delegate the right to use the common areas to family, tenants and social invitees, and the declaration binds anyone who takes a lease or occupies a unit. Two written conditions do reach a tenant. First, the execution of every agreement for the sale or occupancy of a dwelling unit is conditioned on the prospective owner or occupant taking part in the board's orientation program before the sale or occupancy is consummated. Second, occupancy of a dwelling unit is limited to no more than two adults plus the children of those adults, the parents of those adults, and the primary caregiver for those adults, and any exception has to be approved by the board. Ask the association what it wants to see before a lease is signed.
A basketball hoop is not named by that word, but the clause that covers it is categorical: no swing sets, sandboxes or recreational toys or equipment are permitted on the real estate unless provided by the board. Two other restrictions point the same way. No items at all are permitted in the lawn area of any villa, and only common or limited common areas specifically designated for recreation may be used for recreation, with the lawns of dwelling units expressly never counted as a recreational area. There is no approval path written down for a portable or driveway hoop.
Sign rules here are specific and unusually tight for a for-sale sign. An owner may install one standard sign advertising the unit for sale, and it goes in a window of the dwelling unit, not in the ground, and may not exceed 18 by 24 inches. Open house signs may be placed outside the unit only on the day of the open house. Any other sign, awning, canopy or similar attachment affixed to or placed upon the exterior walls, roofs or any other part of a unit needs the prior consent of the board. The declarant and the board keep the right to place for sale, for lease and open house signs around the property in connection with unsold or unoccupied units.
Only normal passenger automobiles, sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks displaying current license plates may be parked or stored anywhere on the property; anything else has to be completely enclosed in a garage. On top of that, no car may be parked on a driveway for more than 24 consecutive hours, with an exception for short-term temporary overnight guests. The 2004 text read street or driveway; the 2023 amendment narrowed that sentence to driveway. Garage doors are to remain closed when unattended, which the 2023 amendment changed from the older except when exiting or entering wording. Guest and overflow parking is not otherwise addressed, so ask the board where visitors are meant to park.
Commercial activity is barred as a general matter, with a written carve-out for a home office or home occupation inside the dwelling unit, subject to seven conditions the document lists. It cannot generate more visits or unreasonable parking than a normal residence, as the board determines. No equipment or other items connected to it may be stored, parked or otherwise kept outside the unit. There can be no employees or independent contractors inside the unit other than a resident. The resident has to obtain whatever approvals local, state and federal agencies require, and comply with the Town of Middlebury and Elkhart County home occupation ordinances. All other provisions of the bylaws, the declaration and the rules still apply. And if the home occupation generates traffic, the owner must carry additional liability insurance in an amount set by the association's insurance provider, name the association as an additional insured, and deliver a certificate of insurance to the association verifying the coverage.
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 →Working on a vehicle at home is prohibited outright, and the clause closes the usual loophole by naming passenger cars. It sits in the same paragraph that limits which vehicles may be on the property at all. No exception is written in for minor work, and no location on the property is carved out.
Containers are stored inside the dwelling unit and may not go out earlier than 5:00 p.m. the evening before the scheduled collection day. Garbage, trash and refuse go in sealed disposable plastic bags or other containers approved by the trash collection agency, and are set out at the locations the board or the trash collection agency designates. The 2023 amendment moved the set-out time: the 2004 text said not earlier than sunrise of the collection day, and it also allowed containers to be kept in the garage. The common and limited common areas are separately required to be kept free of rubbish, debris and other unsightly materials.
Barbecue grills are named as one of the few things an owner may keep on a patio or deck, alongside patio and deck furniture and the potted plants the landscaping clause allows. The same sentence works as a limit: only those items may be kept there, and the owner has to keep the patio or deck neat, clean and free of debris. The documents say nothing about fuel type, grill size, or how far a grill must sit from the building, and nothing about fire pits or open burning.
Line drying outdoors is prohibited. No clothes, sheets, blankets, rugs, laundry or other like items may be hung out or exposed on, or so as to be visible from, any part of the common areas or limited common areas or any public street. Because the ground around each villa is limited common area, that reaches essentially any outdoor spot at a unit. No approval path or screening exception is written in.
Flags are named once, in the 2023 amendment, and they are barred: no decor, flags or other decorative items are permitted in the planting areas, the only exceptions being potted plants, annuals and bird equipment such as birdfeeders, birdbaths and birdhouses. The same paragraph adds that no items are permitted in the lawn area of any villa. A bracket-mounted flag is reached by a different clause: nothing may be affixed to or placed upon the exterior walls, roofs or any other part of a dwelling unit without the prior consent of the board. The only decoration the document expressly permits on the building is a seasonal wreath on the primary entrance door and the garage service door, plus holiday lights and decor between the Sunday of Thanksgiving week and January 15. Nothing in these documents carves out the American flag or a military service flag, so ask the board before mounting one.
Two rules meet at the window. Nothing, ornaments included, may be hung or displayed on the outside of the windows of a unit or placed on the outside walls of a building without prior board consent. And every exterior window is required to have curtains with a neutral lining so the units present a uniform appearance from outside; the 2004 text specified a white lining and the 2023 amendment changed it to neutral. The written exceptions are seasonal: a wreath on the primary entrance door and the garage service door, and holiday lights and decor from the Sunday of the week of Thanksgiving through January 15 of the following year. One sign may go in a window, a for-sale sign no larger than 18 by 24 inches.
Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.