A 177-year-old tree, as horticulturist Tim Boland so gently put it, is in its senescence, which is a scientific way of saying the twilight of its life. And though many of us who are approaching that stage might reject extraordinary measures to keep us around, who among us would want to take on new stress in our old age?

Is it fair to compare the towering pagoda tree on South Water Street in Edgartown, brought to the Island by a sea captain in a flowerpot in 1837, to an elderly person? If that’s what it takes to insert some common sense in the discussion, perhaps it is.

Thanks to the intervention of the Edgartown selectmen, the town conservation commission decided this week to reconsider its preliminary approval of a project to build a garage above the historic tree’s root system. And commission members, who said they had received very little comment on the proposal until a story about it appeared in this newspaper, pledged to publicize subsequent meetings about it.

Norman Rankow, the contractor representing homeowners Tom and Mary Folliard, contends they have gone to great lengths to minimize harm to the tree during and after construction of the garage. Indeed, documents submitted to the commission include an elaborate plan to protect the tree, hydrate it and provide nutrients to its root system.

And an arborist hired by the town assessed the plan favorably, noting that the “cultivation/aeration process and fertilizer application will help improve the soil and the tree’s ability to counteract any negative effects of the construction and encourage root growth in that area.”

But as Mr. Boland, the executive director of Polly Hill Arboretum, suggests, very old trees have a hard time bouncing back from any new stresses. To put a finer point on this: isn’t the best way to mitigate negative effects not to allow construction to begin with?

Good for the Edgartown selectmen Arthur Smadbeck and Margaret Serpa for recognizing that the pagoda tree, a grand old living link to our whaling history, should be allowed to spend its last years in peace.

It’s more than a little disappointing that the one agency Edgartown residents depend on to protect our natural resources had to be shamed into doing what should have been obvious from the beginning.

The conservation commission should deny the garage.