BLR/SDS: Membrane Bioreactor Technology

Banning-Lewis delayed years

Real estate slump halts development in city’ s east

By PAM ZUBECK THE GAZETTE

3/1/2007

A slumping national real estate market, competition from neighboring subdivisions and a severe winter have caused a major setback for development of the 23,000-acre Banning-Lewis Ranch in eastern Colorado Springs.

John Cassiani, who oversees project operations for the Banning Lewis Ranch Management Co., told the City Council this week to delay building a wastewater plant for the subdivision until at least 2014. Plans had called for completion in 2012.

“We don’t think we’re going to need the plant for a few years,” Cassiani told council members sitting as the Colorado Springs Utility Board. “2012 is a very, very aggressive schedule. We don’t need it for two to three years later than that.”

Mayor Lionel Rivera warned Cassiani, saying, “You run the risk of development picking up, and we delay construction till 2014, then we don’t grant any water taps, and you’re stuck.”

“We realize that,” Cassiani said. Cassiani later told The Gazette the original projection to have 3,000 homes built by 2012 has been cut in half. Extreme cold weather has frozen the ground too deep to dig trenches for utility lines, he said. Slower home sales and competition from surrounding subdivisions also put a damper on the developer’s plans, he said. Progress on the ranch, expected to be home to 175,000 more residents by 2050, stalled after the owners, Capital Pacific Holdings of California, bought the land in 2001 and created the Banning Lewis company as a holding company to develop it.

The ranch was assembled by Raymond “Pinky” Lewis in the early part of the 20th century and was known for hosting political gatherings.

It was sold in the early 1960s to Arizona investors who lost it in foreclosure. The property eventually ended up in the hands of of a Mobil Oil subsidiary. Frank Aries, a flamboyant Arizona developer, bought the ranch in 1985 and got it annexed into the city in 1988. He later deeded it back to a failed Arizona savings and loan.

It was the largest property owned by a savings and loan during the government bailout and was sold to a relative of the Saudi royal family. He, in turn, sold it to Californiabased Capital Pacific in 2001.

Meantime, growth has skirted the development to the north and south and on its eastern rim.

After Capital Pacific bought the land, it appeared the ranch would be developed, prompting the city to begin designing the sewage plant.

The plant will process 8 million gallons a day to start, with expansion to 30 million gallons a day. It will be east of Interstate 25 on Clear Spring Ranch, a conglomeration of Springs Utilities’ facilities south of the city.

The annexation agreement called for the developer to pay for the plant, estimated at $100 million, but Cassiani balked when he learned the city is looking at using a new processing method.

Called membrane bioreactor technology, the process would make the plant smaller and reduce odor. Cassiani said if the new technology costs more than a traditional approach, the city should pay the difference. Rivera disagreed. “I don’t think we’re in the business of sharing the cost,” he said. “The annexation agreement says the developer will pay for it.” He also said, “We want that effluent as clean as it can be going down the creek.” Cassiani responded, “I know how important Fountain Creek is in the whole game plan for the Southern Delivery System and the structure with Pueblo. But we all agreed the Chevy plan would be the mindset, not a Cadillac.”

Fountain Creek has been a lightning rod in negotiations between Colorado Springs and Pueblo for the SDS, a pipeline that will transport Pueblo Reservoir water to the Springs’ east side and the Banning-Lewis Ranch. Pueblo opposes the project in part because of Colorado Springs’ repeated illegal sewage discharges into the creek, which flows into the Arkansas River east of Pueblo.

The city is negotiating with Banning Lewis to buy land for an east-side reservoir serving the planned development.

BLR: A little more history

(Originally posted 4/14/11)

Anyone traveling east on Woodmen Road or U.S. Highway 24 from Marksheffel Road will notice a vast, empty expanse of prairie stretching southward toward Widefield and Fountain.

It catches your attention because, all around it, houses are popping up like mushrooms along Powers Boulevard, north of Woodmen Road and in the booming subdivisions around Falcon.

In an era when development seems to gobble up land like Pac-Man, this 21,400-acre chunk known as Banning-Lewis Ranch survives as a habitat for yucca, a few trees, grazing cattle and antelope.

Only recently with the announcement that the land is changing hands (for the sixth time since the original owner, Raymond "Pinky" Lewis, sold it in 1963), have people pondered the history, the present status and possibly the future of this large parcel of rolling grasslands.

The Gazette business pages have answered the whys and wherefores of land sales and potential development. Because this prairie has the potential to change the face of Our Town, we're going to share with you some present-day curiosities and Banning-Lewis lore.

THE PAST

The story and the people behind the Banning-Lewis Ranch, east of Colorado Springs, are likely a mystery to most residents of El Paso County.

What is now about 21,400 acres of rolling prairie stretching south from Woodmen Road to Widefield and east from Marksheffel Road to the very back door of Falcon at Meridian Road, was once an operating ranch renowned for its prize Hereford cattle.

So who were Banning and Lewis? The Gazette archives reveal the following history:

Ruth Banning-Lewis & Domino

Ruth Banning, a Colorado Springs native, was extremely independent for a woman of the early 1900s. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College in 1915 and returned home to teach English at Colorado College.

Her father, William Banning, was an influential Springs businessman who owned the Union Ice and Coal company, as well as a 400- acre ranch south of town where the Al Kaly Shrine Mule Team is housed today, across Interstate 25 just southeast of the World Arena. He died a year before she returned from Wellesley.

Ruth had a short teaching career because her only brother, William Jr., died in 1916 in a World War training camp. So, the 24-year-old schoolteacher took over management of two ice-manufacturing plants and the Banning Ranch. She also organized and managed the Consumers Ice Delivery Co., which distributed all the ice manufactured in Colorado Springs.

Raymond "Pinky" Lewis was a Colorado College graduate and former football team captain who earned his nickname because he'd get red- faced when playing football. His family owned ranches in Rocky Ford and Fowler.

After graduating from Colorado College in 1914, Pinky Lewis started a cattle business and worked toward getting his own ranch.

No one seems to know when Pinky Lewis and Ruth Banning met, but they married Sept. 18, 1921, in a small ceremony in the Banning home at 821 N. Nevada Ave.

Raymond "Pinky" Lewis

The newspapers reported the marriage "surprised Colorado Springs society" because no announcement of the wedding was made and only a few close friends were invited.

Starting in 1927, the couple bought parcels of land east of Colorado Springs for the new property, then called Banning-Lewis Ranches.

Altogether, 43 transactions were made to make up the then-38,000- acre ranch stretching from Woodmen Road on the north to Big Johnson Reservoir on the south.

Later, some of the land was sold for what became the Colorado Springs Airport and Peterson Air Force Base.

As the ranch grew, so did the reputation of the Banning-Lewis Herefords.

These white-faced, red-bodied cattle were sold as foundation stock to breeders in Texas, California and Mexico, as well as in Colorado. Prince Domino 101 was the ranch's world-champion bull in 1932 and 1933.

Ruth Banning-Lewis was considered an excellent judge of Herefords, and in 1933, she became the only woman ever elected to the board of directors of the American Hereford Association.

Later, she was the second woman elected to the Colorado Springs City Council, serving from 1943 to 1949. She also organized the local Girl Scout Council.

Between 1936 and 1972, Pinky Lewis held a men-only barbecue every summer on Jimmy Camp Bluff, an outcropping of rock covered with pine trees just south off Colorado Highway 94 - known as Farmers Highway.

As many as 700 bull buyers, politicians, friends and ranchers attended the huge shindigs with gaming tents.

An old Colorado Midland railroad car was used as a bar and a bandstand.

A small access right-of-way from the highway to the bluff and the bluff itself remained in private hands after the ranch was sold to a succession of speculative land developers. The old railroad car is still there.

The Lewises never lived on the ranch, living instead at the Banning family home on North Nevada. They never had children.

Their offices were in a house next door until the late 1950s, when Ruth slipped on ice and broke her hip.

At that time, she decided to move the two houses to the ranch and have them joined by a breezeway.

While construction was under way, Ruth stayed in a suite at The Broadmoor hotel, where she died at age 70 in November 1962.

The location of the ranch house is easily visible today while driving east on U.S. Highway 24 from Constitution Avenue.

The prairie is broken by a line of pine trees that flank the driveway, which slopes down to the house, barns and corrals hidden in a grove of trees.

One year after Ruth's death, 23,000 acres of the ranch were sold to Lawrence and Stegall Colorado Properties.

They defaulted, however, and U.S. Steel Corporation,which had loaned Lawrence and Stegall the money for the land purchase, took over the property - the first of many sales to developers with visions of covering it with roads, businesses and homes.

Pinky Lewis died in 1978.

Through the many land sales, caretakers - who watch over the land and livestock - have lived in the house, which was not annexed into the city but remains a small island of unincorporated land. The only other inhabitants of the vast expanse of open land are cattle, antelope, deer and some wandering coyotes.

The cattle wear the brand of State Sen. Ray Powers, who has leased the grazing rights since the 1980s.

THE PRESENT

Banning-Lewis Ranch, also known as the Aries Annexation, is one of the largest undeveloped parcels within the city limits of Colorado Springs, and perhaps the state. Here are some facts:

Size

The total of 21,400 acres translates roughly to 33 square miles (640 acres equal 1 square mile). That is equivalent to the city of Miami or Pueblo (both 35 square miles) and larger than Boulder (27 square miles).

It is also equivalent to the combined total of land in Briargate (10,000 acres), Cheyenne Mountain Ranch (3,000), Stetson Hills (2,000) Springs Ranch (1,000), Mountain Shadows (1,600), Peregrine (1,000) and Nor'wood (2,400).

Call 911

For fire protection, the largest portion of the land between Colorado Highway 94 and Woodmen Road and east of Marksheffel Road is under the jurisdiction of the Falcon Fire Protection District, which was organized in 1976. Annexation to the city did not change that status, although the city can respond if Falcon calls for mutual aid. Southern portions of the ranch, south of Highway 94 east of Marksheffel, are under the Security Fire Department and the wildland fire team, which operates under the sheriff.

Police

Because there is relatively little crime where there are no people, the primary calls have been to accidents on roadways. Accidents and traffic violations are handled by Colorado State Patrol and El Paso County Sheriff's Office. But Colorado Springs police officers can also cruise U.S. Highway 24 handing out tickets. All three agencies could respond to other emergencies.

Schools

The bulk of the land, north of Highway 94, is part of Falcon School District 49,which stretches west to Powers Boulevard. For years the vast open expanse of the ranch not only divided the district geographically, but sometimes divided residents: "townies" in the fast-growing Powers corridor between Powers and Marksheffel on the west; and the rural residents in Falcon and Black Forest on the east. Differences seem to boil over, especially during bond issues for new schools. For a long time, students in the Powers area were bused eight miles east to schools in Falcon.

The roads

El Paso County and the Colorado Department of Transportation are responsible for sanding, plowing and maintaining the primary roadways around or through Banning-Lewis property, such as Highway 24, Marksheffel, Woodmen, Highway 94 and Tamlin Road.

At one time, Frank Aries had proposed a $35 million Banning-Lewis Parkway, an eight-lane thoroughfare running north and south through the property.

It never materialized, since the land has never been developed.

THE FUTURE

Last week it was announced that Capital Pacific Holdings Inc., a California developer, will purchase the 21,400 acres remaining of the original Banning-Lewis Ranch for between $80 million and $100 million.

Although the land has changed hands six times since 1963, only small bits and pieces have been sold for development. The potential for growth is great; the master plan allows construction of 76,000 housing units and 76 million square feet of commercial space, but a lot depends on the new owners, the economy and market.

CPH can develop it themselves, sell off bits and pieces for development, sell the whole thing to somebody else or keep it as a long-term investment.

When Frank Aries and the city of Colorado Springs reached an annexation agreement for 24,000 acres in 1988, there were major proposals for a planned development of homes and commercial property with parks and trails.

Water

Water may be the biggest issue in developing the land. Several deep wells exist on the property, but experts estimate it would not be enough to serve a full development of the land. Eventually Colorado Springs will have to provide water and sewer services.

Under the 1988 annexation agreement, the city requires any developer to pay large amounts for infrastructure such as roads, utilities and other public improvements such as storm sewers. Developers and the city will probably negotiate amendments to that agreement.

Parks

The only sure thing about the future of this vast stretch of prairie is the city's plans for Jimmy Camp Creek Park, a 694-acre parcel deeded in 1993 to the city by the owners, the al-Ibrahim family of Saudi Arabia.

The land encompasses the pine tree-covered bluffs and straddles the creek just south of where Constitution Avenue dead-ends into U.S. Highway 24. Plans include trails, historical and natural interpretive programs and picnic areas, but no date has been set for park construction.

Trails

In 1888, the Rock Island Railroad was built from Kansas to Colorado Springs across what is now the Banning-Lewis Ranch. It was abandoned in 1971 and, after several attempts to maintain rail service, the tracks were torn up. The city tried several times to secure a right of way for a trail along the old railroad bed to eventually connect Jimmy Camp Creek Park with city trails and El Paso County's trail from Falcon to Peyton.

So far the efforts have failed, but city parks officials still plan to pursue the trail plan with any future owners.

Power

Both Mountain View Electric and Colorado Springs Utilities could currently serve any development of Banning-Lewis land. The city recently built a major substation on the land off Woodmen Road within sight of Falcon.

The land is bisected by large power transmission lines owned by Colorado Springs, which paid for the leasements. Diamond Shamrock built a pipeline carrying gasoline from its storage facility on Drennan Road to Denver along the power line easement nearest Falcon.

Amendment 24

Should the ballot issue pass on Nov. 7, it would not block any development, since the land has already been annexed, master planned and zoned for development.

The Ranch

Banning-Lewis Ranch is one of the largest undeveloped parcels within the city limits of Colorado Springs.

Here are some facts:

The total of 21,400 acres constitutes 33 square miles. That is equal to the city of Miami or Pueblo (both 35 square miles) and larger than Boulder (27 square miles).

It is also equivalent to the combined total acres in Briargate, Cheyenne Mountain Ranch, Stetson Hills, Springs Ranch, Mountain Shadows, Peregrine and Nor'wood.

Copyright 2009 The Gazette. 

BLR: The SDS reason & customer

(originally posted on 4/14/11 as part of my "Decoding Skorman" series)

Banning-Lewis Ranch, circa 1950

Banning talks over reservoir at a 'stalemate'

Date: February 18, 2006 Publication: The Gazette Author: ED SEALOVER

A few days after the Colorado Springs City Council allowed construction to begin on Banning-Lewis Ranch, a Colorado Springs Utilities official said talks for a new reservoir on the site aren't going as smoothly as he'd like.

Colorado Springs Utilities has acquired one third of the land needed for the reservoir and hasn't been allowed onto the property to survey it.

Bob Robler, project manager for the Southern Delivery System, described the situation as a "stalemate," while the ranch's main developer said he is working hard to resolve the situation.

Robler called the lack of response unusual and said the lack of access makes the utility's job harder. Still, he said he isn't terribly worried because it's the developer who will suffer most if the reservoir is delayed.

"The primary customer of the Southern Delivery System will be the Banning-Lewis Ranch, so it's going to be very difficult for them to build much without having the water treatment plant in place," he said.

John Cassiani, vice president of the Banning-Lewis Ranch Management Co., was surprised to learn this week of Robler's concerns.

The company just finished three months of negotiations that resulted in an agreement requiring it to pay for a $100 million sewer plant, Cassiani said. It plans to turn its attention to the reservoir, he said.

The 24,000-acre ranch on the city's eastern edge is expected to hold 175,000 people as it builds out during the next 40 years. Tuesday, the City Council approved the first phase of construction, a 1,000-home, 329-acre area in the ranch's northwestern corner.

Banning-Lewis is a main reason the utility is constructing the Southern Delivery System, a pipeline from Pueblo Reservoir to increase daily water intake by 50 percent.

Once constructed, the pipeline will deliver water to Jimmy Camp Creek Reservoir, a planned storage area on the ranch. The pipeline and a water treatment plant, if approved by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, are scheduled for completion by 2012 and the reservoir by 2017.

The utility has acquired about 750 acres for the reservoir and surrounding parkland. About 350 were donated by ranch owners as required by an annexation agreement, and the other 400 were bought from 14 property owners for $6.425 million, Robler said.

The utility needs 1,475 more acres for the reservoir, and that land belongs to Capital Pacific Holdings, the local ranch management company's parent company in California.

Utility officials had the land appraised in late 2003 and concluded it was worth just under $3,700 an acre -- a figure it forwarded to the owner, Robler said. That's less than the $16,000 an acre it has paid, but Robler said the unacquired land is vacant and encumbered by power lines.

It is typical for the city to offer a price and have a property owner counteroffer, Robler noted. But Capital Pacific has never responded, he said.

It hasn't even allowed surveyors onto the property to determine the path of the pipeline or how to build the reservoir, Robler said. The utility can't start on either until the Bureau of Reclamation makes a decision on the pipeline late next year, but surveyors need to be on the land by May to keep work on schedule, he said.

Cassiani noted that no one at the firm remembers getting a price offer from the utility, just an appraisal. Owners want to discuss a price comparable to that for which the ranch could sell the land, he said.

The land is zoned for lowdensity residential use, city planning director Bill Healy said.

Surveyors have not been allowed onto the property, Cassiani said, because of a dispute between the ranch and the utility over the scope of the work. The utility essentially wanted access to the entire ranch, he said, while owners want to hold it to the area of the reservoir.

Cassiani expressed optimism that with the sewagetreatment plant agreement out of the way, negotiations on the land sale will go quickly.

"Our plans are to sit down with Colorado Springs Utilities and work through this together," he said.

Vice Mayor Larry Small noted that if ranch owners continue to keep utility workers off the property, the city can take the ranch to court. But he anticipates a deal being worked out before it reaches that level.

Other council members said they could have held up approval of the first phase of development over the reservoir issue, the same as they did over the sewage plant. But several said that with the water treatment plant not due to be built for six years, they have time to hold up future development if negotiations falter.

"For the first phase, (the reservoir) is not critical. We just have to make sure it's in place for other phases of the development as they come on," Councilman Richard Skorman said. "We need to get there, and we need to make sure the property owner's responding."

Copyright 2009 The Gazette

Decoding Skorman: Salazar's Crown Jewels

(5/15/11)

Salazar sees "crown jewel" in Fountain.

The Pueblo Chieftain

Publish date:

September 23, 2006 
Byline by: Chris Woodka

A plan to make Fountain Creek a "crown jewel" for the Arkansas Valley was unveiled Friday by Sen. Ken Salazar. The Colorado Democrat visited Pueblo and Colorado Springs to promote his vision of how a system of trails could connect the Lower Arkansas Valley with Colorado Springs under the umbrella of Colorado State Parks. The report is called "The Fountain Creek Crown Jewel Project: A 21st Century Vision for the Fountain Creek Corridor." Speaking of umbrellas, Salazar shunned those offered by staffers during a light drizzle Friday in favor of more traditional Western head gear. Standing atop the Fountain Creek levee near Eighth Street on the East Side, protected from rain by a cowboy hat, Salazar spoke about how other areas of the state such as the Colorado River in Grand Junction, South Platte and Cherry Creek in Denver and Yampa River in Northwest Colorado have created similar projects. "The Central South Platte Project has been key to the Denver metro area's renaissance. There you have six counties and 3 million people working together," Salazar said. "I would hope this Crown Jewel Project can bring down the division of the two communities."

Pueblo and Colorado Springs have had discussions for more than a year over troubles on Fountain Creek. Salazar recognized the problems of water quality that must be overcome on Fountain Creek before it can be fully enjoyed as a recreational area. "In order to realize the potential, you are going to have to overcome the problems," Salazar said. "That means improving the stormwater discharge, dealing with the erosion from development upstream and the wastewater. We need to make sure Colorado Springs Utilities will comply with the law and avoid the type of spills we've had in the past." Salazar said his report will complement the work of local officials who have begun meeting on Fountain Creek problems. That group will meet in Pueblo next Friday to discuss a vision for Fountain Creek. "My hope is this report will be the impetus for forming a task force out of that group," Salazar said. While in Pueblo, Salazar reiterated his support for the Arkansas Valley Conduit. Salazar is a co-sponsor of S. 1106, which would authorize federal funding for the conduit, and a member of the Senate Natural Resources Committee that is hearing the bill. He said regional cooperation will be needed to make the project a success, and a Fountain Creek State Park could be a building block. Salazar's staff, primarily led by former Colorado Springs City Councilman Richard Skorman and Arkansas Valley Regional Director Allison Cortner, began working on the project about six months ago. The report states one of its goals is to "calm down the acrimony and debate surrounding the Preferred Storage Options Plan and Southern Delivery System." The report builds on the work of State Parks Board Chairman Tom Ready, who has advocated the state park idea for several months, and the Peak to Prairie Project sponsored by the Nature Conservancy and Colorado Open Lands.

Activities envisioned by the report include: Camping. Campsites could be located at the Colorado Springs Utilities Hannah Ranch Property, near present gravel quarries that could become lakes, and near the Pinon exit along Interstate 25, where a proposed development in Pueblo County could include a reservoir. Fishing. Flatwater fishing is seen as a possibility in two reservoirs Colorado Springs has proposed in its SDS plan at Williams Creek and Jimmy Camp Creek in El Paso County.

Trails. The project envisions hundreds of miles of trails connecting Fountain Creek to existing trails in Colorado Springs, Pueblo and along the Front Range. Trails could also connect to and follow the route of the future Arkansas Valley Conduit. Besides the task force, Salazar suggests a wide range of goals, including coordinating access with the Department of Defense, establishing conservation trusts in the area and obtaining rights of way if SDS and the conduit are built.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

Planned creek pathway

By CHRIS WOODKA | Posted: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 12:00 am

    A flood detention pond on Fountain Creek being developed as a demonstration project would be the first step toward extending Pueblo’s trail system to the north.

    There already is a trail along Fountain Creek through Pueblo, but that would be improved and added to the Front Range Regional Trail system, ultimately connecting with trails in the Colorado Springs area.

    The trails are part of the “Crown Jewel” proposal by then-U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar in 2007.

   The construction of trails would coincide with flood control and wetlands projects as they are completed along Fountain Creek, and eventually that would be the way most people relate to the creek.

    “Trail planning is included in all the design planning,” said Gary Barber, director of the Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District.

 “One of the goals of the district is to coordinate the planning of the Front Range trail and we are working with the state in planning for the trail all the way to the Pinon Bridge.”

    The existing trails along Fountain Creek are part of the construction of levees in the 1980s, a legacy of the 1965 flood.

   They tie into trail systems along the Arkansas River and at Runyon Lake that have been developed on land owned by the Pueblo Conservancy District, which formed to control flooding after the 1921 flood.

    In the southeast part of town, a new park is being developed around Lake Minnequa — also as a result of what is, at its heart, a flood control project.

    In short, bulky, technically hard-to-understand flood control structures usually provide the underpinnings for recreational opportunities.

    The flood control basin north of Colorado Highway 47 near Dillon Drive will reduce minor flooding like that which plagued a nearby neighborhood in May 2007 by capturing some of the initial rush of water, then slowly releasing it over several hours after water levels subside.

    “We haven’t quite figured out how much water it would capture,” said Graham Thompson, who is the engineer for the project.

    The pond will backfill into the area, and the amount of water available for wetlands would vary within the basin, Thompson said.

    The wetlands themselves will be engineered for plant species that sustain or attract wildlife.

     “Merle Grimes (a landscape architect who worked on the project before his death this year) described it as kick-starting the wildlife habitat,” Thompson said. “You want to put the species in the zones where they will get the right amount of water.”

     There are currently few projects like the one being developed on Fountain Creek in Colorado, said Allen Green, state conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

    “There were projects on the Missouri River following the floods in 1993 that did the same thing by expanding the floodways,” Green said.

     By creating wetlands, the habitat for wildlife will be improved and the water quality should also get better, he added. Banks would be stabilized to reduce erosion and the buildup of sedimentation downstream.

     That will give walkers or bicyclists more to look at while making it a little safer to explore the area. There would be more educational opportunities in the process as well, Green said.

    As more areas are added, the trail could march north. Three other potential wetlands-detention sites are within a couple of miles of the demonstration project. In all, about 450 acres of land along Fountain Creek could be used for similar endeavors.

    At Clear Springs Ranch, near Pikes Peak International Raceway, Colorado Springs Utilities is developing another portion of Fountain Creek to restore wildlife viewing trails that existed in the area prior to the 1999 flood.

    The big floods — like those in 1965 — most likely would inundate the side detention ponds, Green acknowledged.

    However, a series of the ponds would go a long way toward containing less severe flooding by removing some of the river’s energy as it pushes downstream, he said.

    “It’s really a combination of things,” Green said. “This is just one piece of the puzzle, and if we can put enough of those pieces together, it will go a long way.”