What the recorded documents actually say about Woods Edge in Granger — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
4 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 2015 Amended Restrictive Covenants for Woods Edge, recorded with the St. Joseph County Recorder on May 25, 2016 as instrument 1613117. That document replaced the earlier Woods Edge covenants, and it says on its own face that it applies to lots 1 through 61, which is the whole subdivision. There is no section or phase of Woods Edge that these answers leave out.
Three separate scans of that one recording are on file here, attached to three different listings. They are the same recorded document, not three documents. The clearest scan was used for the wording quoted below, and the other two were read alongside it, so every number here was confirmed three times. The pages carrying the answers were also read by eye off the scanned images.
The older covenants are on file too and were read, but were not used: the 1993 Woods Edge Section One Restrictive Covenants, instrument 9323919, which covered only lots 1 through 9, 30 through 37, 41 through 44, and 55 through 59. The 2016 amendment supersedes them. If an older copy turns up in a closing packet, three things did change. The storage shed limit went from 100 square feet to 160. The recreational vehicle rule was rewritten from an overnight ban in open areas into the day limits described below. And architectural approvals moved from the developer's committee to the association's board.
Two earlier instruments are named inside the 2016 covenants but are not in this file: instrument 9416060 and instrument 9431948. Neither was read. Anything in them that the 2016 covenants do not repeat would not appear on this page. The recorded plat is not in the file either, and the setback paragraph points to it for the front building lines rather than stating them. Ask the title company or the St. Joseph County Recorder for complete copies of all of it.
One date is worth a look. The covenants were written to bind until December 31, 2025, after which they extend automatically in ten-year periods unless a majority of owners record an instrument changing them. Nothing recorded after 2016 is in this file, so whether anything was recorded around that date is a question for the Recorder's office.
Finally, a few things people usually ask about are simply not in this document at all. It says nothing about renting out a home, nothing about short-term letting, and nothing about mailboxes, clotheslines, flags or decorating a window.
Fences are allowed with two limits set in the covenant itself. They may not exceed six feet in height, and they may not extend forward on the lot beyond the front foundation line of the main dwelling, so a fence across the front yard is out. The same paragraph says it is not meant to stop anyone planting or maintaining hedges, shrubbery or trees. One more limit applies on a corner lot: nothing between two and six feet above the roadway, fence, wall, hedge or shrub, may sit inside the sight triangle formed by the street lines and a line joining them twenty-five feet back from the intersection. The document does not say a fence needs written approval, though the committee approves plans for buildings generally.
A storage shed is allowed but the covenant is specific about it. The outside area may not be more than one hundred sixty square feet, it has to go on the rear half of the lot, and it has to match the decor of the house. It must be of quality construction, kept in attractive and neat appearance, and blend with the established home, and it has to comply with St. Joseph County zoning. The board may require protective screening around any detached building. A doghouse or other pet structure has its own rule: one wall within ten feet of the rear wall of the house. Anything other than a dwelling that gets started has to be finished within six months or completely removed. The 1993 covenants capped sheds at one hundred square feet; the 2016 amendment raised it.
The covenant names places and time windows rather than banning everything outright, so where and how long matters more than what you own. House trailers and trucks larger than three-quarter ton may not be parked or located on a lot at all, temporarily or permanently. Boats may be located on the rear of a lot during the boating season. Campers, trailers, snowmobiles, dune buggies and motorcycles may not be parked on the street overnight, and parked in a driveway they are allowed no more than seven consecutive days, and no more than fourteen days in a month. The covenant adds a note that moving the vehicle to restart the seven-day clock is not the intent. The document says nothing at all about keeping a recreational vehicle inside a closed garage, in either direction.
In-ground pools are allowed with approval; above-ground pools are not allowed on any lot. Pool plans must be approved by the Woods Edge Board of Directors, and the pool must have appropriate fencing as required by St. Joseph County ordinance, with that fencing also approved by the board. Tennis courts are not permitted on any lot. The covenant sets no time limit on the board for answering a pool request and gives no standards for what it will approve, so the plan review is the step to ask about early.
Approval comes first. No building may be erected, placed or altered until the plans, including floor plans, external design, location relative to the lot lines, topography, finished grade elevations, specifications and a plat plan showing where it goes, have been approved in writing by the Woods Edge Architectural Control Committee. If the committee neither approves nor disapproves within thirty days of submission, and no suit to stop the work has been filed before it is finished, approval is treated as not required. Separately, all exterior materials and colors must be approved by the Board of Directors. Cement block exteriors, including cement block foundations above grade, are prohibited unless expressly approved in writing, and roll roofing is prohibited outright. Chimney flues must be enclosed in a chase sided to match or blend with the house; brick or stone is allowed but not required, and a bare flue is not permitted.
One satellite dish per lot, and not in the front or the side yard. All satellite dishes, and all television and CB tower antennas, must be approved by the Woods Edge Board of Directors, and they must also have appropriate screening that the board approves as well. The covenant gives no size limit and no deadline for the board to answer. Federal rules can limit how far an association may enforce a restriction like this on a small dish, which is a question for the association rather than something this document addresses.
Solar panels are addressed directly and they need written approval. Both the installation and the location must be approved in writing by the Woods Edge Board of Directors, and the same paragraph covers wind generators. The covenant sets no standards for what the board will approve, no size or placement rules, and no time limit for a decision, so this is one to raise with the board before ordering equipment. The 1993 covenants had the same requirement for solar panels alone; the 2016 amendment added wind generators to it.
The yard rules here are about upkeep rather than design. Every lot must have finished grading and seed or sod in front of the building within one year from the start of construction. Every lot must be mowed, trimmed and free of debris at all times, whether or not a house has been built on it, and if an owner lets a vacant lot go the association may mow it, charge the owner for the cost, and file a lien if the charge is not paid. No ashes, weeds or unsightly objects may be left on the premises, and no lot may be used to store old lumber or other building material except while building. On a corner lot, hedges, shrubs and trees are subject to the same sight-triangle limits as fences. Nothing in the document requires approval of a planting plan or restricts plant choice.
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 →Dogs, cats and other household pets may be kept, as long as they are not kept, bred or maintained for commercial purposes. Live poultry, birds, snakes, rabbits, hogs and cattle may not be housed on or about any lot, and no savage or dangerous animal may be kept on any lot. A dog may not run at large unless it is inside a permitted fenced yard or with an attendant holding it by collar and leash, and the leash may not be more than eight feet long. A cat may not be allowed to run at large or into any yard other than its owner's. Owners carry full responsibility for damage their pet causes to people or property, and must properly dispose of waste the animal leaves on any property. The covenant sets no limit on the number of pets and names no restricted breeds. A doghouse or other pet structure must have one wall within ten feet of the rear wall of the house.
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 goal is allowed, with placement rules. One post with a backboard on it may be installed along the driveway, no closer to the road than twenty feet, and it may not face the road. A post may not be left standing without a backboard attached, and the backboard must be kept in neat repair. Playing in the street is out: the covenant says a street in the subdivision may not be used as a playing ground for basketball, tennis, baseball, soccer or any sport. Nothing in the paragraph requires board approval for the goal itself.
One sign, five square feet. No billboard or advertising sign may be erected or maintained anywhere on the property, or in the window or doors of the building, except a single sign of not more than five square feet advertising the property for sale or rent. That is the whole rule in the current covenant. The 1993 version also carved out builder signs during construction and developer signs promoting lot sales; the 2016 amendment dropped both of those exceptions, leaving only the one five-square-foot sign.
Ordinary cars in the driveway are not restricted, but several things around them are. House trailers and trucks larger than three-quarter ton may not be parked or located on a lot at any time. Campers, trailers, snowmobiles, dune buggies and motorcycles may not be parked on the street overnight, and in a driveway are limited to seven consecutive days and fourteen days in a month. A vehicle on blocks, or without a current license plate, may not be stored outside an enclosed garage on any lot at any time. Driveways themselves have specifications: no stone or cinder, at least sixteen feet wide, asphalt at least three inches thick or concrete at least three and a half, and a circular drive in front at least nine feet wide. Every house must have a garage for at least two cars but not more than three unless the board approves otherwise.
A home occupation is permitted, inside a tight definition. The work has to be conducted entirely within the dwelling and carried on solely by a member of the immediate family living there. It must be clearly incidental and secondary to using the home as a home, and not change its character. Four conditions come with it: no sign or display showing from the outside that the building is used for anything but a residence, no commodity sold on the homesite, no employee other than an immediate family member living there, and no mechanical or electrical equipment used. The covenant then names things that are never a home occupation here: 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.
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 covenant never uses the words repair, service or dismantle, so there is no rule here about working on a car as such. What it does say reaches the visible end of it: a vehicle on blocks, or without a current license plate, may not be stored outside an enclosed garage on any lot at any time. A car up on blocks in the driveway is caught by that wording; the same car inside a closed garage is not addressed. The general nuisance paragraph is the only other thing nearby, and it turns on whether a reasonable and prudent person would find the activity offensive rather than on anything specific to vehicles.
Trash, garbage and other waste may be kept only in sanitary containers, and no lot may be used or maintained as a dumping ground for rubbish. Containers and any equipment for storing or disposing of waste must be kept clean and sanitary and must be kept indoors except for pick-up. Cans may go out no earlier than twenty-four hours before the expected pick-up time. The covenant does not say how soon after collection they have to come back in. Burning household trash or garbage is separately prohibited anywhere in the subdivision.
The covenant has a fires paragraph but it never names a grill, a barbecue or cooking, in either direction. What it bans is narrower than a general fire ban: no fire may burn on any street or roadway in the subdivision, and burning trash or garbage, meaning the material a garbage service would normally collect, is prohibited anywhere in the subdivision. On that wording a contained cooking fire on your own patio is not what the paragraph appears to be reaching for, but the document does not say so and a buyer who wants certainty should ask the board. The 1993 covenants had the same street-and-roadway wording without the trash sentence.
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.