The last minute switch gave the controversial move that will involve construction in one of city's finer outdoor areas resulted in a 30-29 majority for the Huseby location.
In total three local politicians departed from their party policy, with one member of the Labor, Liberal and Socialist Left Party deciding to support moving the embassy out of downtown Oslo, where its operation is both an obstruction and a security risk.
Tom Pape, a Labor representative on the City of Oslo Council, broke ranks and said that a letter from Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, also a Labor politician, convinced him to vote for an end to years of doubt about the future location of the US embassy.
As recently as two days ago Labor and Socialist Left representatives resolved to vote against the move to Huseby, putting an apparent end to that solution.
The US embassy wants to relocate from its central location, not far from the palace, in order to be able to heighten security after attacks on US installations around the world.
Problems of space and security have made finding a new location difficult, and Huseby also became controversial after local residents fought hard to preserve the local wooded area that would be affected by an eventual embassy complex being built there.
Local residents have not yet given up as the move still requires that the target area be redefined to allow construction, and the Preserve Huseby Woods action group leader, Margrethe Geelmuyden, promised to fight to keep the locality open for all.
"It is not certain that the battle is lost. We have to see what happens after this," Geelmuyden told Aftenposten.
