You'd think Salt Lake City's Department of Airports had more in mind Wednesday when they paid $30.5 million — in cash — for 352 acres of property than just buying land for the heck of it.

There is some truth to the assumption — the 4 percent increase to the airport's land could mean room for a new runway, rebuilt terminals or extra parking — but for now, the department says such possibilities are "pure speculation."

The land was merely bought to preserve the airport's buffer zone and protect its existing 7,690 acres from encroachment, said airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann.

"There are no plans," Gann said. "We purchased this property because it was adjacent to two other properties that we own. The goal is to preserve the land for future airport development."

Gann said any development is undetermined at this point, but according to the Salt Lake City mayor's office, the airport is already in initial stages of developing a proposal for expanding.

A layout plan of the airport, updated in May of 2006, recommends the airport realign one of its runways and add a fourth parallel runway by 2025 to minimize delays.

Discussion on the airport's expansion stalled temporarily while the future of major airline Delta was uncertain, says Salt Lake City Councilman Eric Jergensen, but now that the airline is financially more stable, the talks have resumed in earnest.

A formal plan that outlines what changes need to be made — including the possibility of rebuilding each of the airport's terminals — and how long it will take to implement the changes should be nailed down within the next nine to 12 months, Jergensen said.

"The land purchase is part of the long range master plan for the airport," Jergensen said. "This is a very significant purchase, and it's supported by the council, because ... the airport really is, in many ways, the goose that lays the golden egg, and we have to look far ahead to make sure that goose is healthy and well-maintained and will be taken care of for the future. It's very critical to our entire economic system for this entire state."

Jergensen said the land purchase was a strategic move to give the airport more flexibility for expansion, and, considering the plans of land owners Skypark International LC and Mountain Enterprises LLC, which sold the land to the airport on Wednesday, the timing was just right.

Wendell Jacobson, a co-owner of the family-run real estate companies based in Sanpete County, said he and his two brothers were in the process of getting approval to develop the land into commercial big-box businesses when they caught the airport's eye and the airport made an offer.