Roughly 1,170 acres of the undeveloped land intended for the Banning Lewis Ranch Village is closer to development after the Colorado Springs City Council approved major rezoning changes for the area.

The City Council unanimously passed a fleet of ordinances and adjustments Tuesday to establish the zoning, concept plans and right-of-way changes to support two of the upcoming phases for the new development.

The approved rezoning changes cover phase B2 for the acres north of Dublin Boulevard and phase C for the acres on the south side of Dublin. Developer Oakwood Homes and LAI Design Group, which worked on the new design plans for both sections, presented the two plans to the City Council.

The two chunks of new development are undeveloped sections of the 24,000 acres of Banning Lewis Ranch that was annexed into Colorado Springs in 1988. Both proposed phases asked for a full redesign and zone change compared to the original master plan, now including less dense housing and additional green space. The rezoning and new development approach was approved by the city’s Planning Commission in July.

Don Ryan, principal designer for LAI, told the City Council that each of the two phases would provide around 2,500 single-family homes for Colorado Springs.

The B2 proposal includes a small commercial area at the corner of Dublin and Banning Lewis Parkway, 25 acres of land set aside for a school and two neighborhood parks. Almost every other acre would be used for single-family housing.

Oakwood Homes projected that the market price for homes in that development would be somewhere between $250,000 and $340,000. Councilmember Roland Rainey cited those costs for being on the low end for a brand-new planned neighborhood.

“If you can afford an apartment, our goal is for you to put down roots in Banning Lewis Ranch and build your wealth through home ownership,” Oakwood Homes vice president Tyler Jones said.

The Phase C request asked for more changes from the council and a bigger deviation from its initial 1988 development plan. The initial plan had been to build around 3,800 homes in the neighborhood south of Dublin. The new proposal drops that to around 2,500 homes and less than half of the 546-acre lot would be used as a neighborhood.

Ryan said that the reduction was partly a response to traffic concerns and partly needed to comply with changes to environmental and open space requirements in the city. A large section of the eastern side of the neighborhood will be undeveloped as a streamside buffer. The neighborhood will also include a 35-acre community park and four smaller neighborhood parks.

Councilmember Nancy Henjum asked how much the city was committing to maintain the parks in these new neighborhoods. Planning Director Kevin Walker and Oakwood staff said the details were still being discussed.

The design for Phase C also included an improved segment of the Rock Island Trail Corridor, two schools and land for a future fire station along Stetson Hills Boulevard.

The furthest east side of the Phase C land is an 111-acre section bordering U.S. 24 that was rezoned to mixed use. Ryan said that area would likely be the last section to be built and that mixed use allowed the most flexibility for developers to add either homes or commercial use to the area.

Both phases will still need to get a land use plan approved by Colorado Springs to begin construction. Jones previously told the city Planning Commission that the buildout would likely take 15 years.