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The mighty hollow tree in Stanley Park will finally fall, despite impassioned pleas from Vancouverites who came to stand up for a piece of their past.

Vancouver Park Board commissioners late Monday night voted unanimously in favour of a staff report recommendation to take the ancient red cedar down, deeming it a safety risk. A motion to have the tree laid down on the park floor as a testament to its 1,100-year history, and planting a new red cedar in the remaining stump, was also passed.

“It's unfortunate that we're at where we're at,” said commissioner Ian Robertson. “This is a very special tree inside a very special park. ... but unfortunately its time has come.”

But Meg Stanley, a local historian, said the board did not understand or listen to voices of the public.

“We know the tree is dead. It's been dead for decades. But that's not the point,” she said after the vote, calling the snag a “piece of pop art” that the West Coast cannot afford to lose.

“It's a little freaky and it's a little weird. But we've made it that together.”

Members of the public yelled out “shame, shame” after the vote, with many vowing to take the issue to the heritage commission.

The board's decision to end a tradition dating back to the late 1800s, when families began to take portraits inside the dead tree's gaping, empty trunk, was “emotional,” said commissioner Loretta Woodcock. But the tree's 11-degree slant is too dangerous to leave alone, and engineers' recommendations to prop the trunk up with metal braces would take away from its visual charm, she said.

But Ralph Kelman, a structural engineer, said the staff report did not provide enough solutions, and that the tree deserves more time.

“What we need is more ideas, folks,” he said.

It was not determined when the hollow tree would come down.

The 13-metre snag gives the impression that it's alive because of three hemlocks growing out of it.