FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The city’s Tree Committee denied the appeal this week of Susan Davis for permission to cut limbs of a live oak tree that hang over her business and property on North Section Street.

Her request for a permit to cut those limbs above the Fairhope Newsstand was denied by City Horticulturist Jennifer Fidler earlier this year, and Smith appealed to the Tree Committee in April.

“This is the third time I’ve been here,” Davis said Wednesday at the meeting of the committee, which convenes every three months. “I just want an up or down vote, and I want it in writing.”

The committee’s decision was delayed due to a lack of quorum in April, and then for an opinion from the city attorney on the authority of Fidler to enforce the Tree Ordinance on trees on private property. Davis agreed to that delay, according to the committee’s minutes.

The large live oak, the size of which makes it a “significant tree” and subject to heightened protections under the Tree Ordinance, was entangled in controversy two years ago prior to construction of the Hampton Inn, which is located next to and behind Davis’ property. Eventually, the Hampton Inn was required to take steps to protect the tree, which included building a courtyard around it.

“You have no idea what I went through with the hotel and that I’m still going through,” she told the committee. “There’s still flooding, and I guess we’ll know whether it got fixed after the next good rain.”

Davis has argued that she has the right to cut the tree limbs in the air space above her business, also indicating that she might want to a build a second-story there in the future.

“It is bothersome to me that you have so much control over my property,” she said Wednesday.

The city attorney’s September opinion stated Fidler did have the authority to enforce the ordinance, which cleared the way for Wednesday’s hearing.

The committee voted unanimously to uphold Fidler’s decision, which means that Davis cannot cut the limbs completely in the air space over her property, unless she takes the case to court and wins there.

In other business, the committee:

• Discussed proposed changes to the Tree Ordinance, which committee chairman Bobby Green said will be submitted to the City Council for approval next year.