T rees often trump parking spaces in development spats in The City of Oaks.

But not at cramped St. David's School, which plans to sacrifice a quarter-acre of trees to make way for 52 parking spaces.

The private Episcopal school off Lassiter Mill Road just south of North Hills plans to expand soon -- adding a gym, theater, and student commons -- and it needs the extra parking.

Some neighbors support the move, because they're tired of the twice-daily traffic jams along White Oak Road, where school parents park to drop off their kids, pick them up, or attend meetings.

"During carpool times, there can be some congestion," Headmaster Kevin Lockerbie told Raleigh's Planning Commission this week. "We're trying to provide additional parking on campus so that we can get off the neighborhood."

The city's planning staff objected to the expansion plan on the grounds of unjustified arborcide.

A neighbor also opposed it, calling the trees a public resource.

And the city's fee for felling the trees (along a road named for them, no less) is more than $70,000.

But the Planning Commission, which saw no better alternative, approved the school's plan 9-1.

Dissenter Maha Chambliss noted that many schools need to grow, and could cut trees to do it.

"If we honor one," she said, "we should honor them all."