It would be like adding insult to injury for Tim Bremenkamp if Westar Energy contractors cut down the tall shade tree that graces the yard of his northwest Lawrence home.

For one, he’d lose the beauty and comfort of the tree that provides a nice canopy for his backyard deck. But to top it off, he’d likely also have to pay higher electric bills to Westar because his house no longer would be covered in cool afternoon shade.

It’s a scenario, though, that Bremenkamp and about 160 other west Lawrence property owners will face as Westar crews begin next week a major tree-trimming and removal program near one of the city’s largest electric transmission lines.

“We’re concerned about it,” Bremenkamp, who lives near Trail Road and Sierra Drive, said Friday. “We’d hate to lose our shade tree. But I also don’t want my power to go out during a storm.”

Preventing power outages is the major reason that the chain saws will begin buzzing next week, said Karla Olsen, a spokeswoman with the Topeka-based utility.

“The whole point is to make sure that everything keeps working properly,” said Olsen, who said the line is a major transmission line that serves thousands of homes.

Crews will be working along a diagonal line from near Kasold and Peterson drives to the area southwest of Lawrence where the South Lawrence Trafficway would intersect with East 1000 Road.

Property owners who directly abut the transmission line should have received a letter recently from Westar notifying them about the project. Crew members are scheduled to begin knocking on doors Monday to have conversations with property owners who may lose trees.

“Some of the trees in the area are huge, so we wanted to make sure that we talk to people about it,” Olsen said.

Olsen had no estimate on how many trees may need to be removed. But the company did take the step to alert leaders at City Hall that the program was about to begin.

In a letter from Chad Luce, Westar’s community support representative, he acknowledged the project would be a bit different from the normal tree trimming that is done to protect smaller residential power lines.

“This transmission (high-voltage) line clearance project will require the outright removal of large trees that are encroaching on Westar’s easement,” Luce wrote.

Olsen said crew members would look at each tree on a case-by-case basis to determine if it needs to be trimmed or removed. She said trees taller than 14 feet or of a species that are expected to grow extremely tall were at greatest risk for removal.

Several residents said all they could do is keep their fingers crossed and hope that their trees survive the cut, so to speak.

“I do understand why they need to do it,” said Lynn Alexander, who lives near 12th Street and Vantuyl Drive. “But that still wouldn’t make it any easier. In our backyard we have so many trees that it kind of makes you feel like you’re in the country. I would hate to lose that.”

Olsen said it was likely that many of the trees along the line were not planted by current residents but were “volunteer trees” or were small when the utility purchased the 100-foot-wide utility easement in 1949.

“There weren’t many homes out there at that time,” Olsen said.