Now they have even more questions after they say an original plan was changed without any notice. They noticed the changes only after access to their road, Fielding Manor Court, was shut down. There’s not many living on the private road, just 6 families, but they say a new plan to route their only way to and from their homes is a major detriment.

The way the new plan has the current Fielding Manor Drive going away. When finished, the project has the new Fielding Manor Drive actually going through the parking lot of the to be built IGA store. The homeowners there say this would greatly decrease their home values, increase traffic and decrease accessibility. They say they moved in for the secluded safe feeling and they are already losing that.

Some of the homeowners have been trying to get any official to give them some answers. They have been put through the ringer, INDOT tells them to go to the city of Evansville, the city tells them to talk to the city council, but they say it all boils down to the city engineer’s office.

ATTACHED BELOW IS THE STATEMENT THAT 44NEWS RECEIVED FROM THE EVANSVILLE CITY ENGINEERS’S OFFICE.

“The project has gone through many steps. Step one was to rezone the property to meet the County’s zoning regulations. The Area Plan Commission voted 7-3 against the rezoning, with two abstentions. The rezoning request was forwarded to City Council for a final vote. The City Council reversed the Area Plan Commission’s decision and vote 6-3 in favor of the rezoning. The City Engineer’s office then began 18 months of coordination with multiple departments, reviewing options for access along Fielding Road and developing the best possible solution for safety and mobility. The best solution is to move the access for the development far away from of the Lloyd Expressway, which sees nearly 60,000 vehicles per day.

The approach to Fielding Manner [sic] Drive was consolidated with the commercial drive access to maintain as few “conflict points” as possible. Also, by realigning Fielding Manner [sic] Drive, the grade of the drive will be reduced by approximately 6 percent and the drive within the right-of-way will be widened to 25-feet wide to improve safety and mobility.”

There is still some hope for the homeowners. While they don’t understand how a private easement that they have taken care of for 20 years could just be handed over to a private company, a resident who lives there says she has a phone call with the Mayor of Evansville on Monday.