The court shall appoint three disinterested landowners as commissioners, to inquire into the convenience and necessity of the proposed highway, and the manner in which it has been laid out, altered, or resurveyed, and, except where a trial by jury is requested, as to the amount of damages sustained by the appellant. (Added 1985, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1997, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 13, eff. Jan. 1, 1998.)