City residents who live around the intersection of Aboite Center Road and Jefferson Boulevard may be surprised to know they're not allowed to keep any livestock other than riding horses on their properties, and they're also not allowed to live in homes that cost less than $5,000 to build.

Homeowners along parts of Anthony Boulevard may not sell “intoxicating liquors” from their lots, and Kern Valley residents can't drill for oil, quarry or mine.

“You know they wouldn't have passed it if someone hadn't done it,” said Allen County Recorder John McGauley, whose office is the home to all of the city's neighborhood covenants.

While it may have been true at one time, chances are a resident of the Kern Valley neighborhood won't be drilling for oil any time soon, but it's also pretty likely homeowners there don't know they're not allowed to do it. That's the thing about the restrictive covenants: Many neighborhoods aren't aware they exist or what's written in them, McGauley said, and he's hoping to fix that.

While some covenants ban seemingly silly things, others have more serious restrictions. A number of covenants written in the 1930s and 1940s have race restrictions. “The members of the Mongolian or Ethopian races are prohibited from owning any of the lots in said addition…,” said the covenant for Highview Park Addition, written in 1942.

The restrictions aren't surprising, said The History Center's Randy Elliot.

His own neighborhood, Southwood Park, has a race restriction in its covenant, but he's not fazed by the language since federal laws make enforcement of the restrictions illegal.

“It's just a way of the times. It's no longer enforceable because of the Civil Rights Acts. I see it as a historical document,” he said.

McGauley's thought is that covenants may be historical documents, but they need to be seen, which is why he's looking into creating a searchable database online specifically for the covenants.

He'd like to make the database searchable by ZIP code and quadrant for easy access.

“It shouldn't cost a lot of money to find out if you can build a shed or not. If someone guesses wrong, it (can get expensive), and wind up dividing neighbors.”

McGauley is looking into the possibility of changing state law so that accessing the database and printing its contents would be free to county residents.

Currently, it's a dollar a page to print.

In the meantime, McGauley has thought about setting up playground equipment in his backyard for his 1-year-old daughter Laurel McGauley.

“(My neighborhood) requires approval of playground equipment. I think…I have to look.”