The two neighborhood lakes
The namesake water features. Lots backing them carry drainage and lake maintenance easements that constrain rear additions and accessory structures.
Harrison Lakes · Fishers, IN
140 mid-1990s homes around two lakes, with an HOA architectural process of its own
Harrison Lakes is a 140-home neighborhood in northwest Fishers, east of Allisonville Road and south of 141st Street, built out in the mid-1990s around the two lakes it takes its name from. Additions here are usually straightforward city-side; the work is in the association's architectural review and in respecting the lake and drainage easements at the rear of many lots.
History & architecture
How Harrison Lakes was built
The neighborhood was built out in the mid-1990s — homes along Barnett Place are documented as built in 1996 and 1997 — during the wave of subdivision development that turned northwest Fishers from farmland into a commuter suburb.
It totals 140 homes organized around two interior lakes, which shape the street layout and the rear-lot conditions more than any zoning line does.
The homeowners association publishes covenants and an architectural guidelines and approval process, so the neighborhood has maintained a consistent exterior character since build-out.
The original developer and builders are not documented in the city's indexed records; where that matters for matching materials, we work from the recorded plat and the existing construction instead.
- Size
- 140 homes
- Era
- Mid-1990s — documented builds in 1996 and 1997
- Home size
- Roughly 2,000–2,750 sq ft in recent sales
- Recent prices
- About $410,000–$450,000 in recent listings
- Setting
- Two interior lakes; many lots back water or common area
Landmarks & shared spaces
Places that anchor Harrison Lakes
Harrison Thompson Park
Nearby public park serving this part of northwest Fishers.
Allisonville Road corridor
The neighborhood's main access spine and its link to Fishers, Carmel, and I-465.
Businesses & districts
Where Harrison Lakes gathers
Allisonville Road retail
Everyday shopping and services along the corridor immediately west of the neighborhood.
Clay Terrace, Carmel
Larger shopping destination roughly fifteen minutes away.
Zoning & overlays
Common zoning codes in Harrison Lakes
These are the base districts and overlays we see most often on Harrison Lakes lots. Always confirm your parcel's district and overlays on the Metro zoning map before design decisions get expensive.
R2Residential District (R2)
15,000 sq ft minimum lot, 100 ft width. Front 25 ft local / 40 ft other, side 15 ft (10 ft with a side- or rear-load garage) and 30 ft aggregate, rear 40 ft. Height 35 ft, 35% impervious — up to 50% abutting Geist.
R3Residential District (R3)
12,000 sq ft minimum lot, 90 ft width. Front 25 ft local / 40 ft other, side 10 ft (5 ft with a side- or rear-load garage) and 20 ft aggregate, rear 30 ft. Height 35 ft, 40% impervious — up to 50% abutting Geist.
R4Residential District (R4)
10,000 sq ft minimum lot, 80 ft width. Front 25 ft local / 40 ft other, side 10 ft, rear 25 ft. Height 35 ft. The common district for 1980s–1990s Fishers subdivisions platted before the PUD era took over.
PUDPlanned Unit Development district
Most master-planned Fishers subdivisions are zoned PUD, which means a Council-adopted PUD ordinance — not the R1–R5 table — sets lot size, setbacks, height, and coverage. Pull the recorded PUD ordinance and commitments for the parcel before designing.
Overlays that apply here
Floodplain standards
Chapter 9 floodplain standards (Fall Creek / Geist watershed)
Not a Chapter 4 overlay but a city-wide standard over FEMA-mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas. Construction in the SFHA needs a separate Floodplain Development Permit through Public Works before the building permit issues.
Permitting path
- 1Confirm the parcel's zoning first. Harrison Lakes' base district is not published in the sources we can verify, and mid-1990s Fishers subdivisions were platted both under the R-series districts and as PUDs — the answer changes which standards govern.
- 2Submit to the Harrison Lakes HOA architectural approval process under the recorded covenants. The association publishes its guidelines and an approval form, and the city does not enforce or waive them.
- 3On a lake or pond lot, locate the drainage, lake maintenance, and utility easements on the plat before drawing. Those easements, not the rear setback, usually set the buildable limit.
- 4A compliant addition, remodel, or accessory structure is an Improvement Location Permit — an administrative Department of Community Development review with no public hearing.
- 5Where the parcel sits in a recorded subdivision plat, the platted setback controls over the UDO table. Read the plat before trusting the district minimums.
- 6Relief from a setback, height, or impervious standard in a base district is a development standards variance at the Fishers Board of Zoning Appeals.
- 7In a PUD subdivision, the governing standard is the adopted PUD ordinance. Deviating from it can mean a PUD amendment through the PUD Committee, Plan Commission, and City Council rather than a simple BZA variance.
- 8City approval and HOA approval are separate. Fishers publishes a Homeowners Association Guide making clear that a permit does not satisfy private covenants, and an architectural committee approval does not satisfy the UDO.
Why it matters
Harrison Lakes's place in Fishers
It is a clean example of mid-1990s northwest Fishers: modest lots, traditional two-story homes, and a water feature as the organizing amenity.
At 140 homes it is small enough that the association's architectural standards materially define the streetscape.
Its housing stock is now thirty years old, which is exactly when kitchens, primary suites, and rear additions come due.
Events & festivals
What happens in Harrison Lakes
HOA community events
Seasonal
Neighborhood social and maintenance events are organized through the association.
Designing here
What this means for your Harrison Lakes project
- Rear additions on lake lots are an easement question before they are a setback question. Pull the plat and confirm the drainage and lake maintenance easement lines first.
- Impervious area caps in the R-series districts run 35–40%, and on a mid-1990s lot already carrying a house, driveway, and patio, a large addition plus hardscape can push against the limit.
- Mid-1990s elevations here are traditional and brick-fronted. Matching brick and roof pitch on a rear or side addition is usually the difference between a seamless result and an obvious add-on.
- The association reviews before the city does in practice. We produce one drawing set that answers both reviewers rather than redrawing.
- If the parcel turns out to be inside a PUD, the adopted PUD ordinance controls setbacks and coverage and a deviation is a PUD amendment, not a simple BZA variance.
- Confirm FEMA flood hazard mapping on any low or water-adjacent lot; construction in a mapped Special Flood Hazard Area needs a separate Floodplain Development Permit through Public Works.
FAQ
Questions about Harrison Lakes
Keep exploring
Other Fishers neighborhoods
Sources
- City of Fishers Unified Development Ordinance (Encode Plus)
- Fishers Department of Community Development — Planning & Zoning
- Fishers Board of Zoning Appeals
- City of Fishers Homeowners Association Guide (PDF)
- Fishers PUD boundaries (city GIS open data)
- Harrison Lakes Homeowners' Association
- Harrison Lakes covenants & architectural guidelines
- Fishers floodplain management — Public Works
Start your project
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