Edgewood neighbors hope to protect 200-year-old white oak tree from future development

Atlanta is known as the "City in the Forest," but, largely due to ongoing development, the canopy is shrinking.

While the city recently amended its tree protection ordinance to increase fees for cutting trees and incentivize replanting, the new ordinance does not require any trees to be preserved.

Now neighbors in Edgewood are working to protect the city's largest white oak tree from development.

Meet Alba the white oak

If a group of oak trees off of Vaughn Street in Edgewood could talk, they would have more than 200 years' worth of stories to tell, but with development on the horizon, their neighbors now want to be their voice.

"Alba makes me feel like certain things can stand the test of time," said Edgewood neighbor Daniel Solberg.

Solberg thinks a tree this grand deserves a name, so he chose "Alba."

"Alba gets its name from the Latin words for white oak, which is Quercus alba," Solberg said.

With a nearly 6-foot-diameter trunk, Alba is the champion white oak tree in Atlanta.

"That means she is the biggest white oak and probably the oldest," Solberg said.

Standing next to her are two other white oaks and a red oak, which are also likely more than 200 years old. In 1864, the Battle of Atlanta was waged beneath them.

"That makes Alba and her three oak tree friends living witnesses...of this pivotal battle in American history that was caused by such division and strife," Solberg said.

Development concerns fuel community action

Despite putting down roots in Edgewood 15 years ago, it wasn't until the threat of development that Solberg learned of the history growing across the street.

"I just felt activated. I can't describe it any other way," Solberg said.

Now, Solberg is officially a tree hugger.

"I have given Alba a hug. I will say I have held her trunk, and it is an amazing feeling. You just don't have that level of grandiosity rooted far into the soil, with all these benefits of sinking all the carbon from the air and giving us oxygen back. Just to be near that, it feels, it feels magnificent," Solberg said.

He and a neighbor created a "Meet Alba" website to raise awareness and placed signs around the neighborhood.

"All developer site plans that have come in included basically cutting down all the trees on the property," Solberg said.

They also hired an arborist who certified that the trees were healthy and could live for hundreds of years longer.

Solberg says about 60 neighbors have joined the effort to advocate for the trees, attending city meetings and reaching out to officials.

Alba and the other trees sit on a 5-acre parcel earmarked for development since being rezoned to "Planned Development – Housing" in 2007. The landowner, Verdun Holdings LLC, told me the land was under contract to sell last year until the developer backed out.

But Alba is not out of the woods yet.

"At any time, a developer could come in and come up with a development strategy for this site. So while Alba isn't in imminent danger of being cut down, it's definitely a possibility that looms on the horizon," Solberg said.

The city says construction is not allowed within 75 feet of Sugar Creek, which runs through the site. But Solberg says the historic oak trees fall outside that buffer.

Verdun Holdings told me no specific sale or development plans have been formalized, but that any development they undertake will preserve Alba, respect creek setbacks, and maximize greenspace.

Solberg worries that if the land is sold, another landowner won't have the same priorities. He is not against the land being developed, but hopes that when development comes, it balances conservation with density.

"We want to work with developers to build with us, not to build on us," Solberg said.

He's also hoping that city leaders take more action to preserve Atlanta's roots.

"We need high-quality mature trees like Alba to stay preserved, to keep giving us that oxygen, keep giving us that shade," Solberg said. "This is important to the community. This is important to Atlanta."

A spokesperson with the City of Atlanta's Office of Buildings shared a statement about the properties with CBS News Atlanta:

"On July 2, 2007, City Council rezoned 1424 Vaughn and several adjoining properties to PD-H (06-O-0777). The legislation included a site plan (attached), which shows a number of trees that do not appear to be impacted. However, because I do not know the exact locations of Alba and the other white oaks, I cannot determine whether those specific trees are protected.

Sugar Creek runs through the consolidated property, creating a 75-foot stream buffer on each side. Construction is not allowed within these buffers unless a buffer encroachment is granted by the Technical Panel, which is overseen by Site Development in Watershed Management.

Site plans approved by legislation take precedence over tree protection standards. As a result, neither the current ordinance nor the new ordinance (effective Jan. 1, 2026) would provide protection for trees located within the footprint of the proposed subdivision. Only trees situated outside of that footprint could be protected."