Residents frustrated with sewer work in The Oaks neighborhood

MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- Workers are upgrading the city sewers in The Oaks neighborhood in Mishawaka. Residents are still upset about the removal of all the namesake oak trees from the neighborhood and now they're concerned about all the construction affecting their quality of life.

Cheryl Smith and her family moved to The Oaks neighborhood for the peaceful streets and tranquil ambiance. Now it's anything but tranquil.

"We wake up every day to beep, beep, beep, beep, of the trucks backing up. And it's pretty early and I will say I got to hand it to these guys even in that 90 degree heat they were out here working hard," said Cheryl Smith.

At Smith's yard, the sidewalk simply ends. Piles of dirt replace the once towering trees.

But this is actually better than what it was just a week ago.

"They, for a lack of a better terminology, hit or shut off our plumbing so we were without water for 6 days," said Smith.

Fortunately, Smith's daughter, Brook Shook, lives just about 2 blocks away.

So Smith was able to use Shook's home for water.

But Shook's house is also in the middle of the construction chaos.

"Some of the sewers have been too high and too low. They had to come and tear our whole curb out because of the sewer situation," said Shook.

We reached out to the Mishawaka engineering department to find out the status of this project and what can be done to help these folks dealing with the mess.

We are still waiting to hear from the city.

For smith and shook, one of the worst parts of this project is knowing summer will come to an end and they can't even enjoy their own yards.

"Even the everyday living aspect of it, the summer's going to be over," said Smith.

The project is expected to last until November
 

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