The fight over the fate of a northeast Atlanta tree appears to be moving from City Hall to Superior Court.

For the second time, the Atlanta Tree Conservation Commission on Wednesday night denied a group's efforts to protect from development "Grandma Gordon," a huge pecan tree on the corner of Gordon and DeKalb avenues. The group now plans to file an appeal in Fulton County Superior Court within 30 days, longtime Gordon Avenue resident Teri Stewart said.

Allen Sullivan/AJC (ENLARGE)

The city gave a group trying to save 'Grandma Gordon,' an old pecan tree, 30 days to raise $1 million to buy the land it sits on. The tree is slated to be cut down to make way for redevelopment.

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"I'm very disappointed, but I'm not surprised," Stewart, 54, said Thursday.

Atlanta attorney Adam Gaslowitz, who owns the half-acre slice of land, wants to build 10 town homes and remove several trees, including Grandma Gordon. He plans to leave a grove of smaller trees on the property.

"It's not like I'm not being sensitive to the environment," Gaslowitz said Thursday. "There are lots of properties right in that area where the developers have clear-cut the land. We haven't done that. It's a green-friendly plan."

In late 2007, the city arborist approved Gaslowitz's plans, saying they were in line with Atlanta's tree ordinance. But Stewart and others appealed. On Feb. 20, the city gave the group 30 days to raise enough money — $1 million, Stewart estimated — to buy the land where the pecan tree stands.

As of Thursday, the group had raised about $3,000, Stewart said. She said the money would be used for legal fees.

Gaslowitz said he's being unfairly portrayed as anti-green space, noting that he plans to donate to the city a 4.5-acre of land near Lakewood Amphitheatre.

"All the other developers have gone forward with their projects [nearby]. I don't understand why this particular one has caused so much commotion," he said. "I don't want to be made out to be a tree killer."

Stewart claims Grandma Gordon is one of the last remaining pecan trees from the Sutherland Estate, built in the early 1870s by former Georgia Gov. John B. Gordon. It appears immune to "pecan scab," a fungus that destroys hundreds of pecan trees each year.

Gaslowitz says he hired an arborist who estimated the tree to be about 80 to 90 years old.