If North Fair Oaks residents are willing to assume responsibility for a 65-foot oak and the ground around it, the stately tree won’t be chopped down after all, representatives of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission said Thursday.

Before accepting the olive branch, however, a handful of residents who met with the representatives in Redwood City said they’ll need to check into exactly what would be involved.

The California Valley oak that residents have nicknamed “Granny” stands on Public Utilities Commission land between homes on 14th and 15th avenues in an unincorporated area near Menlo Park. The tree was scheduled to be cut down May 16 because it lies in the path of a pipeline the utility is installing, but when neighbors got late word of its fate they protested and prompted the utility to reconsider.

In the weeks since, the two sides have met several times, with much of the discussion focusing on the possibility of laying the pipeline beneath the tree’s roots — a proposition favored by neighbors but initially dismissed by the utility as too costly.

On Thursday, utility officials said it would cost about $100,000 to remove the tree versus about $310,000 to install a pipeline beneath it. Relocating the tree would be the costliest option at $350,000.

Joe Ortiz, a project manager with the Public Utilities Commission, told the neighbors it would be difficult to justify spending more than $300,000 to save the tree unless the utility can show that doing so would serve a public purpose.

“We can’t do anything we’re not legally obligated to do for a single person or group of people,” Ortiz said. “However, we can do that if there’s a community benefit.”

And that’s where the neighborhood comes in, Ortiz suggested.

If a neighborhood organization or nonprofit is willing to take responsibility for the tree and the narrow 1,100-by-80-foot strip of land surrounding it, the utility would consider picking up the tab to tunnel under it, Ortiz said.

He added that the utility even would put a fence with entry gates around the strip and plant seeds to turn the open space into grassland. In return, the neighborhood group or nonprofit would have to assume liability and maintain the park-like area.

Although the tree is on Public Utilities Commission land, it actually stands just inside the rear backyard fence of 15th Avenue resident Charles Berkstresser, one of the residents who has fought to save the tree. Berkstresser said Thursday he wouldn’t mind moving the fence in so the tree is outside.

“I’m not trying to take over land,” Berkstresser said. “It’s about protecting the tree, so I’m OK with that.”

Mary Ann Mullen, another neighborhood resident who attended the meeting, said she wants the utility to put into writing that the tree would be left alone “in perpetuity.”

But David Briggs, the utility’s water operations manager, said such a promise can’t be made because future water needs might dictate the tree’s removal.

The meeting ended with the neighbors agreeing to look into creating an organization to take care of the open space area.

Community sponsorship of parks and gardens on Public Utilities Commission land is common, utility officials said. For example, they noted, a park at Edison Way and 9th Avenue that includes a playground is supported by the Fair Oaks Beautification Association.

The association’s organizer, Laura Caplan, said in an interview that maintaining “North Fair Oaks Park” is challenging, especially having to raise $6,000 a year to maintain and insure it.

There was “a lot of energy and vitality around” when the park was established, she said, but maintaining it is a different story. “The energy tends to fall off a bit.”

The pipeline under construction in the North Fair Oaks neighborhood is part of the Public Utilities Commission’s $4.6 billion project to ensure water can be delivered from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in the event of a serious earthquake.

Email Bonnie Eslinger at beslinger@dailynewsgroup.com.