The city’s tree committee reluctantly signed off Wednesday evening on a developer’s plan to cut down a 20-year-old live oak that had stood in the way of constructing the front entrance to a new Publix Super Market under construction on U.S. 98.

By early Thursday morning, workers had already chain sawed through its 26-inch trunk and cut down the sprawling tree, city officials said. The developer, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers, had agreed Wednesday to replace it by planting six live oaks, each at least 4cm HALF inches in diameter, along the stretch of U.S. 98 fronting the site.

The replacement trees cost the company about $10,000, said Jeff Pape, vice president of investor relations for Regency Centers. Pape attended Wednesday’s meeting to make the company’s case to the tree committee.

Tree cut down at Publix site