Whatever happened to...Grandma Gordon?
For many years, perhaps as many as 100, a sprawling pecan tree known to neighbors as Grandma Gordon has grown on a chunk of land at the corner of DeKalb and Gordon avenues.
For the last few years, the tree has been at the center of a legal tussle between neighborhood activists, who want a community space to surround the tree, and the landowner, who wants to build townhomes on the half-acre parcel in Lake Claire. When The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last wrote about the land two years ago, the case had escalated from neighborhood and tree commission meetings to Fulton County Superior Court.
Since then, landowner Adam Gaslowitz has submitted a new building plan. Lawyers for the tree-lovers have disputed the plan's accuracy and the city's building and tree removal permitting process. Permits have been granted, appeals denied, money raised and another suit filed. In June, the case will return to Superior Court.
No townhomes have been built and "Granmaw" Gordon, as some call her, is still there.
"When we started, they said we would not last six months," said Teri Stewart, a longtime Gordon Avenue resident who spearheaded the effort to keep condos off the land and maintains stacks of research about its history and ecology. "One day, when we save the greenspace, I will acquire my living room back."
Stewart and others have raised an emotional appeal for the tree and the land around it. They've argued for the tree's historical significance, suggesting it’s one of the last remaining pecans from the Sutherland Estate, built in the early 1870s by former Georgia Gov. John B. Gordon. They’ve argued for science, noting the tree's seeming immunity to “pecan scab” fungus. Lately, they've argued for the space as a wildlife habitat, park, garden and gathering place. Backers of the cause continue to accept donations, hoping to raise enough money to buy the half-acre parcel, or, as a last resort, move the tree.
But in court, the case is mostly about posting periods and building permits.
“When you're dealing with these kinds of cases, most of the challenges are process driven. If you could rate success based on the passion of the pursuit, this tree would be around forever,” said Brian Daughdrill, a lawyer for the neighborhood activists. "Even if it were designated a historic tree, that doesn't afford it any protection -- now it's a historic tree, now it's a historic tree lying on the ground."
Gaslowitz said Friday he is still willing to sell the land, but only if he can recoup the money that has gone into it so far -- more than $1 million, he figures, although he hasn't recently tallied the precise cost. Stewart and Daughdrill said the price doesn't reflect decreasing property values.
Gaslowitz, an attorney, said he planned to build 10 townhomes on the land and expected to maintain some of the greenspace and trees, though not the old pecan tree in the center. With the changing economy, he said, he's not sure now what would be best to put on the land; he'll make plans for the space once he's free of court cases and can assess the housing market.
"What [the neighborhood activists] want is a a park that would be privately owned by me and available for their use," Gaslowitz said. "It’s going to be difficult for a private citizen to do that."
