Many citizens wanted to keep the tree. This is not the first case in this area. There were a few fund raisers to collect funds to support the move.
In Youngsville, last year, a similar situation presented itself. The community raised funds to buy adjacent property and that road was rerouted onto the new property.
Several years ago, there was debate about removing a large live oak in town, to make room for a filling station. The filling station won out and the tree was cut down. Less than a year later, the filling station closed its doors. The city sued the company on behalf of the citizens and won.
Folks here have become keen (militant) to the idea of preserving the remaining old live oak trees. In some cases, folks have even protested against others picking the Spanish moss from them.
As of this writing (11:50 am), I haven't heard how the move is going/ went. It was supposed to take 3 hours to move it, 1 1/2 miles. KLFY TV has a noontime local broadcast, "Meet Your Neighbor", so maybe they'll have an update, then.
Sonny