An historic live oak tree which might be cut down to make room for a office building and parking lot has won another reprieve. For now.
In March, the Lady Lake Commission told realtor Fran Dann to go back to the drawing board and find a way to preserve the tree to make room for an office building in La Plaza Grande Professional Center.
On Monday evening, Dann’s client Brian Warwick took to the podium and made a personal plea to the commission to see the plan go forward. Warwick is one of the owners of the property.
Warwick said they had looked at alternate possible configurations, but had no success.
“If I had a choice between a building and a tree, I would choose the tree,” said Commissioner Paul Hannan. “I don’t want this tree to go.”
He added that he was “disappointed this came back to us with absolutely no changes.”
Mayor Ruth Kussard said she had studied the arborist’s report and concluded that if the building and parking lot were built around the tree, the tree would probably end up dying.
“No one likes to see these big beautiful oak trees cut down,” she added.
The matter will be back up for discussion on May 5.