NGA director approves 30-day comment extension for site selection

Robert Cardillo, the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, on Friday approved a request by Illinois lawmakers to extend to 30 days the comment period regarding the preliminary decision to build a $1.6 billion NGA Western headquarters in North St. Louis.

People who wish to submit comments about the NGA decision, announced a week ago, have until May 2 to make their viewpoints known, according to a letter Cardillo sent to U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill.

Previously, the comment period had only been 15 days.

U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, whose district includes Scott Air Force Base, applauded the announcement of the lengthened comment period for NGA West, which would bring 3,100 jobs to its new home.

“The devil is in the details, and that’s why it was so important that we continue to dig into the details of the report,” Bost said in a written statement. “With our 30-day public comment request now granted, we have an adequate opportunity to respond to the findings and set the record straight on potential discrepancies. The fight continues.”

People are invited to submit their comments to the email address nextNGAWest@usace.army.mil. The mailing address is: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District, Room 529, Atten: Amy Snively, 601 E. 12th St., Kansas City, Mo. 64106.

Cardillo is set to make the final decision on the NGA siting decision by either late May or early June

The NGA, a spy agency that makes maps based on satellite imagery, had chosen a 99-acre North St. Louis site over a 182-acre St. Clair County site located west of Scott Air Force Base.

Officially, four sites were in the running for what is being called NGA West: two are located in St. Louis County — Fenton, Mo., and Mehlville, Mo. — while the third is in North St. Louis. The fourth candidate site was the 182-acre patch of farmland and scattered trees owned by St. Clair County, just west of Scott Air Force Base's northwest boundary, south of Interstate 64.

Construction on the facility, which is set to replace its current home just south of Downtown St. Louis, is set to begin mid-2017 and be complete by early 2021.

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This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 2:05 PM with the headline "NGA director approves 30-day comment extension for site selection."