No sooner had plans been confirmed for 2,500 or more Marines coming to Hawaii from Japan than Honolulu resident Dennis Egge suggested how to accommodate them.

"Wouldn’t it be nice if the Navy moved its planes and personnel back to (Naval Air Station) Barbers Point?" Egge said. "Something important went missing from the Ewa Plain when our naval air squadrons moved from NAS Barbers Point to (Marine Corps Air Station) Kaneohe, leaving the Coast Guard to ‘hold down the fort.’

"Now, the Marines need extra space at MCAS Kaneohe to accommodate Marine Corps personnel and their families and equipment immigrating from Okinawa. Isn’t this a great opportunity for the Navy to return to NAS Barbers Point?"

Maybe not the Navy, but possibly Marines and their families, a variety of officials are saying.

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, recently was asked at a town hall meeting in Ewa Beach if she would support Marine housing at Kalaeloa.

"Her response was yes, that sounds like something she would support," said Hanabusa spokesman Richard Rapoza.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye confirmed on April 24 that the Okinawa Marines are coming to Hawaii — a more than 20 percent increase in the islands — after the U.S. scaled back a massively expensive $21.1 billion long-planned Marine shift to Guam.

The additional Hawaii Marines, added to the 11,700 already here, would be phased in over several years, officials said.

That’s led to the question: Where to put them?

The Marines’ preference is to have most of its forces at Kaneohe Bay, but plans already in the works, including proposals for Navy P-8A Poseidon jets, Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and new attack, utility and heavy transport helicopters — adding up to a 49 percent increase in airfield use by 2018 — might make it impossible to base all the Marines there.

An official said Pearl City Peninsula, where SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 has a compound, is among multiple sites on Oahu that might be looked at to house some of the extra Marines.

The old Barbers Point is another.

Rapoza, Hanabusa’s spokesman, said if the Pentagon is doing a detailed review of the Barbers basing, "we aren’t aware of it."

"There would be a number of issues to be resolved, including how to return the facility to military use, what kind of infrastructure and construction work would be required, and what other logistical questions would have to be answered, including transportation," he said.

Even if the basing look is at a very early stage, Ewa Neighborhood Board and state officials, a developer and a lawyer involved in base closure issues are saying: It’s possible to do.

Anthony Ching, executive director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, which has oversight of the shuttered Barbers Point, said a new Marine Corps family housing project could really help revitalize the old base.

"If the military were to decide that Barbers Point is a good place to locate family housing, for instance, could they do that? Most certainly," Ching said.

So-far unrealized hopes for major redevelopment of Barbers, closed as a military base in 1999, and the dilapidated state of a lot of the land and facilities since then, have left some West Oahu residents pining for the old well-kept military days.

An HCDA master plan for the 3,709-acre base, now called Kalaeloa, still calls for 6,350 homes, a 7,000-job business district and two rail transit stations, Ching said.

State officials previously estimated that $3.35 billion was needed to realize the plan, including $550 million to improve old roads, water utilities, electrical systems and other infrastructure.

An examination given to basing an aircraft carrier air wing at Kalaeloa — which put some redevelopment plans on hold — ended in 2007 with the Navy deciding to base the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego instead of Pearl Harbor.

Consideration also was given in the aircraft carrier plan to moving P-3 Orion sub-hunting aircraft back to Kalaeloa from Kaneohe Bay, an official said.

The closure of the Barbers Point base identified 2,654 acres to be conveyed, with the Navy retaining some land. For example, beach cabins and a golf course are on 424 acres of Navy land.

Only about 217 acres remain to be conveyed, the Navy said.

The area has been anchored by a large Hawaii National Guard presence, the state’s general aviation Kalaeloa Airport and Coast Guard operations. The FBI broke ground last year on a new $65 million facility at Kalaeloa.

Some other redevelopment has occurred, with dozens of new businesses opening up in recent years on 539 acres conveyed to the Hunt Development Group and on land controlled by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

But large sections of Kalaeloa still are weedy and overgrown with kiawe and dilapidated, abandoned buildings.

John Gollner, chairman of the Ewa Neighborhood Board, said some military forces could be brought back to Kalaeloa — Marines and some of their helicopters or tilt-rotor Ospreys, for example — without having to undo the shuttering of Barbers Point that came through the federal Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, process.

"I think what a lot of people would certainly appreciate would be to bring some more active-duty personnel over — so where Kalaeloa would keep its character," Gollner said. "Folks would still go over and use the facility like they do now, but they (the Marines) would just add to the complement."

In other words, Kalaeloa wouldn’t become a gated military base again.

Stephen Sorett, a Washington, D.C., lawyer with the firm of McKenna Long and Aldridge, which specializes in BRAC base reuse issues, said there would not be a legal roadblock to building military family housing on some of the Kalaeloa land.

"They (the Marines) have to do some type of political agreement with whoever it is that owns that property now. It’s clearly much easier if it’s owned by the public sector as opposed to a private-sector interest," Sorett said. "But even if it’s owned by a private-sector interest and you are talking about building facilities over there, then it’s just a matter of working out a deal. Certainly there’s a lot of precedent for the government building assets on private property and then entering into long-term deals."

Putting in some Marine aircraft squadrons would be trickier at a base previously closed by the Pentagon, he said.

That might take congressional action.

"Legally, I’m not sure (if there would be that requirement)," Sorett said. "As a political matter, almost definitely. I can’t imagine a maneuver of that size taking place without at least getting congressional support. Now, would that have to be legislation? Maybe not, but you’d certainly want to get the full support of the armed services committees in the House and Senate."

Steve Colon, president of Hunt’s Hawaii Development Division, said Hunt would be "very interested in building housing for the Marines being transferred from Okinawa" on its property.

"If there is a request for proposal process to house the Marines, Hunt would participate as we feel Kalaeloa is ideally suited to provide great housing opportunities and a vibrant community," Colon said.

The plan to base some of the Okinawa Marines in Hawaii still is evolving. So are other military plans that could have an impact on basing.

The Navy, for example, is reconsidering its previously announced plan to base 18 P-8A Poseidon surveillance and submarine-hunting jets at Kaneohe Bay with an eye to perhaps adding those three squadrons to four others that might go to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington state, officials said.

Fewer jets at Kaneohe Bay could potentially mean more space for Marines.

The HCDA’s Ching said there are some amenities that could be used by Marine families at Kalaeloa, such as the Navy-run golf course and nearby beaches. And there would be potential pluses for wider redevelopment at the old base.

The Marine Corps’ Puuloa Range Training Facility, a shooting range, is nearby in Ewa Beach.

"I’m speaking hypothetically: So the Navy would lease back land from Hunt, and have a private contractor (through a) public-private partnership build appropriate housing for military families," Ching said. "It would spur the development of infrastructure to serve the area, so it would give renewed priority and certainly act as a catalyst for growth."