The Asheville Tree Commission stepped into the fray surrounding a planned development in front of City Hall on March 17, urging City Council to look into ways of protecting a large magnolia tree that developer Setwart Coleman wants to cut down.

In a letter dated March 18, Bill Jones, the commission’s chairman, told Mayor Terry Bellamy and council members that the board had voted the night before to urge city leaders to “look at means to protect the magnolia tree in Pack Square due to the importance of the tree as a historical symbol to Asheville and because it is intended to be removed for private purposes, versus public use.”

Coleman’s plans to remove the tree, to build a condominium project on City-County Plaza, have been controversial since Buncombe County sold the tract of land on which it sits. That parcel was orginally donated to the county for public use by George Willis Pack. Critics of the land sale say the county violated its agreement with Pack in selling it to a private developer.

The tree traditionally has been a gathering place for musicians during the Shindig on the Green music festival.