Lot in subdivision "unbuildable"?

[Gregory J.]

I noticed a vacant lot in my subdivision and found out it is owned by the HOA. I asked one of the neighborhood trustees about it and he explained there was originally a house on it but the ground settled and the house wound up being demolished. Everyone now assumes nothing can be built on this lot.

I have a hard time believing that in a development of several hundred homes one particular .3 acre lot is IMPOSSIBLE to build a house on but everything else is fine. I imagine with a soil survey and a properly engineered foundation it should be possible to build. How would I go about pursuing building on this lot? I would think that first I would get the property under contract with the HOA with a contingency that I would do a soil survey to determine if it is suitable to build on. Get the soil survey done and then move from there.

I asked the city about the lot and they didn't have any records related to it being "unbuildable".

If it matters the subdivision was built in the 60's and is in the St. Louis Missouri area (Chesterfield). Based on Aerial photographs from the St. Louis county parcel viewer I can see that the house was torn down between 1970 and 1981.