Now that Ultra Resources has announced the suspension of drilling activities on 18,000 acres it owns inside the Colorado Springs city limits, there is a question on the lips of many.

“What happens to that land now?”

Doug Selvius, Ultra’s vice president for exploration, recently said nothing has been decided. But Ultra is an energy company, not a land development company, and that leaves many wondering.

On Monday Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach acknowledged he had called Ultra to ask about the land and he said he “would very much like to see the city acquire that property. It’s the opportunity of the century.”

No purchase price was mentioned, but it’s known that Ultra paid $20 million for the land. Bach thinks there are a number of ways the city could come up with the money, but he added, “if we couldn’t buy it for a song it isn’t going to happen.”

Bach suggested that if the city controlled the land once known as the Banning Lewis Ranch it could get serious about filling undeveloped areas of the city that have been vacant a long time. Ultimately, Bach envisions the city selling the 18,000 acres off for development in phases.

It’s only in the brainstorming stage, but some think it is an interesting idea.

Longtime open space advocate Lee Milner said, “I think it would be a great idea for the city to buy BLR (Banning Lewis Ranch). Since about 1987 the future of Colorado Springs has been controlled by the owners of the property: Frank Aries, the Resolution Trust Corp., Saudi oil barons, Capital Pacific in California, and Ultra Petroleum in Houston. It is time that Colorado Springs takes control of its own future…Leap-frog development in Falcon has occurred because of the complexity of developing 18,000 acres of BLR at once.”

Dave Gardner of Growthbusters, an organization whose mission is to “Help society kick the habit of growth addiction,” said “Purchasing Banning Lewis Ranch would be the smartest, most economical thing the city could do….we should own and control that land, preserve it as open space and possibly find ways for it to support local food and

or renewable energy production.”

Thus it seems the ideas for the land are as wide open as the land itself.

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Got a question? Contact Barry Noreen at 636-0363 or at barry.noreen@gazettedev.gazette.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Hear him on KRDO 105.5 FM and 1240 AM at 6:35 a.m. Fridays.

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Hear Barry Noreen on 
KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and 1240 AM at 6:35 a.m. Fridays. Contact him at 636-0363 or 
barry.noreen@gazettedev.gazette.com.