Plans for the Army site's future are being discussed even before the post is formally slated for closure.

Hampton officials want to give the city's residents a chance to offer ideas on how to best use the land at Fort Monroe once the Army vacates the waterfront property.Hampton Mayor Ross A. Kearney II has talked to developers about Fort Monroe, and the city's staff has started drafting conceptual plans. But nothing has been decided and won't be for some time, city officials say.

Monday night, city officials are hosting a public meeting at Kecoughtan High School to get a sense of what the public supports and to ensure that officials aren't overlooking unusual ideas.

"This first round of thinking is just to help us get our thoughts together about what it should be, without getting into too much detail," Councilman Charles Sapp said.

Kearney has said he expects to see some sort of residential development mixed in with some office space and retail stores. Several developers have made courtesy calls to the mayor, but none discussed specific plans, he said.

"Some of these guys are richer than small countries," Kearney said.

He stressed that the planning process was in the infant stages, no deals had been made and anything was still possible.

Other ideas that have been mentioned included a nature preserve, a golf course, an amusement park or some sort of office park for high-security defense contractors inside the moat.

Public suggestions will be considered as the city continues writing broad conceptual plans for the post. That should be completed sometime early next year and would be followed by a more detailed master plan.

City officials expect Fort Monroe to be formally slated for closure by year's end as Congress appears unlikely to reject the recommendations from an independent base closing commission. The recommendations include closing Fort Monroe and moving the primary operations up the Peninsula to Fort Eustis. Private development could begin at the post within a couple of years at the earliest, but the Army isn't expected to completely vacate the post for at least four or five years.

Potential disputes about how the land will be conveyed to local officials and who pays to maintain the historic buildings and remove unexploded bombs could also complicate future development. *