Aaron Fukuda bought his 2-acre country lot east of Hanford with hopes of building a dream home and starting a family.

Now he fears those dreams could be dashed -- and his neighbors' homes endangered -- by California's plans for a high-speed rail route through the Valley.

The Ponderosa Road residents are upset over a California High-Speed Rail Authority map drawn in August that shows the rails rolling straight through their backyards.

For the homeowners, it's an unwelcome departure from a published map showing the rail line going through a field hundreds of yards west of their homes. And it's a surprise, they say, because the authority never told them a newer map even existed.

"We feel like we've been misled and information was withheld," said Aaron Fukuda, one of the residents. "We're to the point where it's very difficult to trust what we're seeing and hearing."

The concerns being voiced in Hanford could easily arise in other parts of the state as the rail authority tries to assemble the land it needs for its tracks.

California hopes to start work next year on a 120-mile stretch of high-speed train tracks between Fresno and Bakersfield -- the first piece of what is planned as an 800-mile system. As many as 1,000 pieces or more of Valley property may need to be acquired, in whole or in part, along the way.

They'll include homes, businesses and farms in the path of the line.

Officials say a precise route remains undetermined. And that is creating uncertainty among landowners about whether their properties will be affected.

Rail engineers are looking for ways to reduce the effects on farming and irrigation in the area. But by making a map as part of that process, they created a potential nightmare for the Ponderosa residents.

It underscores the challenge faced by rail planners, who are drawing numerous maps to study options for every stretch of the rail line. Each option has the potential to upset a different group of officials or property owners along the route.

Conflicting messages

The Ponderosa Road residents and others who live nearby met early this month to scrutinize a map given to Fukuda by engineers working on the rail project. Fukuda said he got the map only after pestering officials over whether the proposed tracks might derail his plans to build a home on property he bought in 2006.

Fukuda said he talked to rail engineers in November because a map from January 2010 depicted the rail line and a possible passenger station about 1,100 feet west of his back fence.

Before designing his home, he said, he wanted more specific information about the tracks and how he could plant trees or change the design of his home to reduce problems from the trains.

"I was told in November that my property wasn't even in the area of impact," Fukuda said. He said he was assured then that his neighborhood was safe.

But when rumors began swirling later that a new map showed a new route threatening the neighborhood, Fukuda began making more calls and sending more e-mails.

Fukuda already was annoyed. Annoyance became anger last month when he discovered the new map was drawn in August. "They were telling me one thing in November, and they knew full well they were adjusting the alignment."

A spokeswoman for the rail authority said the map given to Fukuda "is just one iteration of a design" that may -- or may not -- be included in a draft environmental-impact report, or EIR, for the Fresno-to-Bakersfield section. That report, to be released soon for 45 days of formal public comment, is expected to include a preferred alignment for the rail route.