A half dozen members of the Oak Harbor Garry Oak Society gathered for an emergency meeting Monday evening to plan an effort to save a tree threatened by development.

After Laura Renninger, founder of the group, briefed the group about the details — complete with architectural drawings, photos and paperwork — several of the members drove out to the Rose Hill neighborhood on the northeast side of the city to see the sprawling Garry oak tree, which Renninger estimates to be at least a 100 years old.

“It just makes my stomach churn to think about losing this tree,” Ellen Giles said. “It’s hard to put a price on something like this.”

On the other hand, removal of the tree would make room for a new townhouse just as housing is getting tight in the city ahead of an influx of Navy personnel.

Residents of the Rose Hill neighborhood received notices last week that Waldron Construction is seeking “a reasonable use exception” to the oak tree protection in city code. The tree impacts two side-by-side lots in the development.

Waldron Construction sent a letter to the Whidbey News-Times that can be read here.

Development Services Director Steve Powers said a property owner seeking to develop his or her land may receive a reasonable use exception if the application of critical areas regulations would deny all reasonable economic use of the property.

The decision will ultimately be up to the hearing examiner, but planning staff will analyze the project and make a recommendation. Powers said planners are just beginning to look at the issue.

He added that mitigation could be required if Waldron is allowed to cut down the tree. Such mitigation could, for example, include the planting of oak trees off site.

Yet Renninger and other members of the group feel that the tree can and should be left alone. They also feel it’s a little suspicious that the tree was just “discovered.”

The city initially approved the construction of a duplex on the two lots with the oak 10 years ago, but the oversight was recently caught — necessitating the reasonable use exception. The two lots are the only ones in the neighborhood that haven’t been developed.

“The existence of the Garry Oak was not known at the time of the development approval,” the city’s notice states.

Powers said there was somehow a gap in the information when the plan went through the preliminary and final plat process.

“We can’t really explain it,” he said, adding that he didn’t know if the earlier approval will affect the hearing examiner’s decision.

The Rose Hill planned residential development was approved in 2006 and Waldron later purchased it, according to Renninger.

Members of the Oak Harbor Garry Oak Society hope that pressure from the community can persuade either city leaders or the company to find an alternative to the ax.

Renninger suggested that the company could build on the site without removing the tree through a variance or a boundary line adjustment. Or the property could be turned into a park while the nearby pocket park could be developed for housing.

Or perhaps the city could purchase the property.

“We want every effort made to spare the tree,” Renninger said.

She said the tree was in the group’s inventory of Garry oak trees and was especially significant because it seems to mark the northernmost boundary of the oak grove that once ran to the water.

“If they allow this to happen it sets a precedent that I think people will live to regret,” she said.

Steve Waldron, owner of Waldron Construction, could not be reached for comment.

n To make written comments on this application, mail or hand-deliver specific comments to: City of Oak Harbor, Development Services Department, 865 SE Barrington Drive, Oak Harbor, WA 98277, no later than 5 p.m. on April 8.