However, ratepayers will pay to keep the tree standing.
Two couples, Peter and Ruth Denton and Murray and Sylvia Little, want to fell the 27m Sequoiadendron giganteum, saying it restricts entry to their properties, has damaged a driveway and underground services and is a potential hazard.
However, in a report prepared for a council hearings committee on November 10, council planner Karen Bain recommends the council decline resource consent for the removal.
Instead, she recommends the committee grant $6000, or half the cost of "mitigation works".
Ms Bain notes in her report trees need at least 147 points for such things as form, usefulness, age and stature to be regarded as "significant".
The Taieri Rd tree scores 220.
The tree's removal was supported by 23 submissions.
Three opposed it and one was neutral.
The reasons supporting removal included the tree being too large for a residential area, it had developed a "significant lean", it was not native, it had no historic value, it would need to be removed at some stage so "why drag things out", falling branches were a danger and its effect on drains.
Reasons given opposing removal included the tree's amenity value, its value in countering global warming, the removal of other mature trees in the area, it having pre-dated nearby houses and its value to birdlife.
The report noted a parks officer considered the tree was healthy, with no signs of decline, and could be expected to "live a long and healthy life".
The officer described the lean as a "slight natural lean", saying there were "no signs" the tree was likely to fall.
An attempt to get consent to fell the tree failed in 2000.
