Angel Oak/Angel Oak Village timeline

1991 – The city of Charleston buys what is now Angel Oak Park, a roughly two-acre property on a dirt road surrounding what’s billed as the oldest living tree east of the Mississippi River.

2000 – Sea Island Comprehensive Health Care, a non-profit provider of services to low-income residents of the sea islands, proposes selling 42 acres of undeveloped land surrounding Angel Oak Park, due to the institution’s financial problems.

2001 – The state names Angel Oak South Carolina’s Millennium Tree. Charleston’s Planning Commission approves rezoning the Sea Island property to allow a grocery story, office buildings and apartments.

2004 – Sea Island seeks bankruptcy protection and continues to pursue land sale. In September, the city announces a plan to acquire 16 acres of the land around Angel Oak Park for $1 million, as part of a $3.5 million purchase of the entire property by Greenville developer Robert S. Small Jr. That deal falls by the wayside, and the land is purchased by a different developer.

2005 – With the sale of the Sea Island land pending, and the non-profit’s bankruptcy reorganization hanging in the balance, Charleston insists on greater protection for the Angel Oak than proposed by the buyers. The city threatens buy all of the land if the potential developers don’t agree to concessions. After several days of contentious public hearings, an agreement is reached calling for a 150-foot buffer around Angel Oak Park, a 75-foot natural buffer along unpaved Angel Oak Road, an extra level of city review as the development proceeds, a 7-acre conservation zone around the park, and the hiring of a hydrologist and a tree expert. The development plan would include a large grocery store, shops and 285 housing units.

2008 – Developers of what’s become known as “Angel Oak Village” return to the city with revised plans that eliminate the big-box grocery store and increase the number of housing units to 600. The Planning Commission endorses the new plan and City Council approves it, over the course of three public meetings in May and July. In late July, Samantha Siegel launches an online petition drive opposing the development.