"It's not acceptable to have that happen when we're building such a huge project that affects many, many people," Richard said. "We have to go far beyond the legal requirements, to be in a situation where we're not only doing outreach, but encouraging active community involvement."

When the authority hires a new chief executive officer in the next couple of weeks, Richard said, communication and outreach will be a major performance measure in the contract for the position.

Historic disruption?

The proposed high-speed train tracks, which would carry trains between San Francisco and Los Angeles through the San Joaquin Valley at speeds up to 220 mph, would pass within about 900 feet east of the Forestiere Underground Gardens. The line would cross Shaw Avenue between the nearby Union Pacific Railroad freight tracks and a rerouted Golden State Boulevard.

It's not necessarily vibration from passing trains that worries the Forestieres, but construction of an overpass to carry Shaw Avenue traffic over the existing UP tracks, the proposed high-speed tracks and a realigned Golden State Boulevard.

They also fear that the new overpass would impinge on the six-foot space between the attraction's entrance and Shaw Avenue and hamper visitors' ability to park on the street in front of the gardens.

Those concerns are based on a report from March that shows the overpass starting near the gardens entrance -- and within 25 feet of some structures on the gardens property. But the report suggested that the project would have no adverse effects on the gardens.

Valery Forestiere wonders how the authority or its engineers could reach such a conclusion without visiting the property and examining the underground features.

"It looks like they just sat across the street and decided, 'Well, it's all underground, so there's no impact,' " she said.

Burcar, the authority spokeswoman, said the agency's representatives did visit the gardens in January along with Fresno city officials and met with Marc Forestiere, Valery Forestiere's brother, "and confirmed that the project would have no adverse effect on the property."

Marc Forestiere has a different recollection of the Jan. 7 meeting, arranged for members of the city's Historic Preservation Commission to discuss the historic status of Mary Forestiere's adjacent parcel.

"There was one lady who tagged along who may have been from the high-speed rail authority, but I don't remember," Marc Forestiere said. "But the meeting was requested by the Historic Preservation Commission for a specific topic, and it was not high-speed rail.

"There was no discussion of high-speed rail plans at all, absolutely not. If someone is trying to portray the Jan. 7 meeting as sometime when we discussed the impacts, that is not what happened."

Mike Lukens, a spokesman for Fresno City Hall, said it's his understanding there was "a brief discussion" of high-speed rail on Jan. 7, but agreed it was not the topic of the meeting.

"Regardless of whether the authority has met or talked with the Forestieres in the past, it's clear that the discussions have not been satisfactory," Lukens said Tuesday. "The city will step in and make sure that [the authority] and the gardens are talking and that their concerns are resolved."

Changes of plans

Baldassare Forestiere's original earthworks were dug by hand, mostly with picks and shovels, digging beneath a few feet of topsoil through a concretelike layer of hardpan. While the hardpan made the property nearly useless for fruit orchards, the four- to six-foot-thick layer provides a sturdy ceiling for chambers hewn from the earth below.