Pacific Grove elm tree wins reprieve from the axe—for now.

The Pacific Grove City Council voted 7-0 on Wednesday night to rescind an earlier vote in support of removing a 100-year-old American elm tree from Jewell Park, after a huge protest by citizens that included hundreds of emails to the council, a lawsuit and a woman who scaled the tree to stop a tree crew the day it was scheduled to be felled.

That doesn't mean the 40-foot tree is out of danger. Mayor Bill Peake explained the vote to rescind was merely so that the council could hear additional information since voting on Sept. 15 to remove the tree. A new vote will come up again at a future meeting, possibly Nov. 3.

"This is not to say we’re not going to come up with the same vote that we had at our past meeting to remove the tree, it’s strictly saying we’re going to talk about it again," he said.

Two of the tree's neighbors, Patricia Purwin and Charles Schwartz, filed a lawsuit on Oct. 6 in Monterey Superior Court asking a judge for a temporary restraining order against the city. In court documents they challenge the city arborist's report stating the tree is unhealthy, leaning to one side and poses a danger.

Along with other residents, the couple hired two two independent arborists who stated for the record in court documents that the tree is healthy.

"My opinion of the tree is that, judging by its bark and green foliage, the elm appears to be healthy and growing vigorously," stated Frank Ono, who has worked as an arborist for the city in the past. He said the tree also appears to be stable, calling the tree's lean to the west "slight." Other problems with the tree are not enough to condemn it, he said, adding there are mitigations to correct potential issues. He also suggested that the curb the tree butts up against "can be reconfigured artistically with a slight curve to accommodate the tree." 

It's that curb where the tree was getting in the way of a new sidewalk the city wants to construct that prompted the city to seek removal of the elm over the summer.

Since resident Rebecca Lee climbed 20 feet up the tree to save it on Sept. 30, the tree has inspired hundreds of people, many of whom have left messages around the tree's base.

On Wednesday night several residents spoke in favor of keeping the tree during the meeting on Wednesday night. Said one woman before the vote to rescind the previous decision: "It's a jewel of a tree, in a jewel of a park, in a jewel of a town by a jewel of a sea."

The city stipulated on Oct. 18 that it would not take any action against the tree while the matter was still being decided. If the council reverses itself and saves the tree, Purwin and Schwartz will drop the lawsuit, Purwin says. If it votes to remove the tree, the couple will have five days to ask the court for a hearing for a temporary injunction to stop the tree's destruction.