A $40 million expansion of Lawrence Memorial Hospital may cause two large oak trees near the corner of Fourth and Maine streets to be cut down.

Officials with LMH, the city, Westar Energy and the Pinckney Neighborhood Association met Friday afternoon to go over plans for a new power line to the hospital that may require removing the trees.

Pinckney leaders said they were concerned about the project, but stopped short of saying they were going to oppose it.

“We know the hospital needs to expand,” said Gwen Klingenberg, coordinator for the neighborhood association. “I’m just trying to make sure I ask all the questions.”

Klingenberg will present the plans to the neighborhood association at an 11 a.m. meeting today at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Conference Room D, 325 Maine.

LMH President and CEO Gene Meyer said the hospital was reluctant to pay the estimated $500,000 to have the line buried, and Westar engineers said they weren’t sure there was enough room in the right of way to bury the line.

The line is needed to provide power to several new additions to the hospital.

The $40 million expansion will include a new emergency department, new surgery suites, additional birthing rooms, an improved intensive care unit and the conversion of semi-private patient rooms to private rooms.

The two large oak trees – estimated to be about 50 years old – are on the northwestern corner of Fourth and Maine streets.

The new power line would run north along the western side of Maine Street toward the hospital’s northern end, which is about two blocks north.

Westar said it was unknown whether several smaller trees that are on the western side of the street would have to be cut down.

Westar originally had proposed running the line on the eastern side of Maine Street where there are much smaller trees.

Property owners on the eastern side of the street, however, expressed opposition to having the line placed on their property because the project wasn’t serving them.

Mark Hecker, superintendent of parks and maintenance for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, said that it would be possible to put in some smaller trees underneath the line.

“You hate to lose trees like that, but the positive side of this may be that we could perhaps put some trees on both sides of the street and allow it to grow into a bit of a show area for the neighborhood in 10 years or so,” Hecker said.