HAPPY HOLLOW STILL PICK FOR COURTHOUSE

Happy Hollow remains the preferred site for a new federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau, but a final decision won't be made before fall.

The General Services Administration isn't rushing to make a decision because construction of the $30 million courthouse is still three years away.

"We have some fairly significant time to deal with here," said Jim Ogden of the GSA's regional office in Kansas City.

The GSA in April settled on the Happy Hollow site west of City Hall as its preferred choice. Public opposition earlier had forced the government to abandon the idea of building a courthouse in a residential neighborhood immediately south of the existing Federal Building.

Site selection has slowed to a crawl as the GSA still hasn't hired a firm to do the necessary environmental assessment.

The firm will do environmental assessments of the Happy Hollow site west of City Hall as well as two other possible sites: the north side of the 400 block of Broadway and the old St. Francis Hospital block on Good Hope.

The assessments amount to a document search in an effort to determine if the sites have any history of pollution or contamination problems, Ogden said Friday. If there are no problems with the Happy Hollow site, soil testing will be done to make sure there isn't any contamination problem, he said.

The assessment work will be done this fall. The GSA also will hold a public hearing once some of the assessment work has been completed.

Ogden said the hearing could be held prior to any soil testing.

The GSA also will have the Happy Hollow tracts appraised as well as the Broadway site. The work will be done by local appraisers.

Ogden said the GSA wants the Broadway site appraised to avoid delay in case the Happy Hollow site doesn't work out. But Ogden doesn't expect that to be the case.

The nearly six-acre site south of Independence included a longtime trash dump. But Ogden said the GSA is looking at building the courthouse near the Independence and Frederick streets intersection, which is north of the former dump site.

"I am optimistic we will eventually be able to dig a hole and put a courthouse in Cape Girardeau," said Ogden.

Congress two years ago allocated $3.8 million to buy land for a new courthouse. But Ogden said the GSA could buy the Happy Hollow site for much less.

The $3.8 million was based on estimates from GSA staff appraisers on the cost of buying a fully developed block adjacent to the Federal Building. The Happy Hollow site is largely vacant land.

"We should not be paying a whole heck of a lot over at Happy Hollow," he said.

Congress next year will consider approving a fiscal 1998 budget that could include $2 million for design of the courthouse. Design work would start in 1998 and a construction contract awarded in October or November 1999.

Ogden said it would take two years to construct the building. "We would expect to be in it in the year 2001."