Is this tree worth saving? Angry residents ask board to stop developers from cutting old cedar

OCEAN SPRINGS -- People rallied Tuesday night to stop a developer from cutting a gnarly old cedar tree on Jackson Avenue that is a favorite of photographers.

Sylvia Bosco and others asked the Board of Aldermen to void the city Tree Committee's assessment and save the cedar, which is protected under the city's tree ordinance.

Ray Bellande, historian with the city, told the board, "It is astounding for me to be here tonight to watch people have to beg to save one of our trees.

"We're a tree city -- let's save trees," he said.

Some estimated the tree to be 150 years old.

Mayor Connie Moran said the issue was brought to her attention last week. The city had OK'd cutting the tree to allow for the driveway of a new home to be built.

She halted the process until the tree can be assessed by a certified arborist, she said, and the city can determine whose property it's on.

"The Tree Committee should never have even looked at it without a site plan," she said. A property's site plan tells where the structure and driveway would be.

Moran said, "The process was not appropriately followed."

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Is this tree worth saving? Angry residents ask board to stop developers from cutting old cedar ."