Commendably, joint comprehensive planning between Buffalo and Clinton townships seems to be "touching all of the bases" in terms of future recreation needs.

At a meeting Wednesday, the planning committee discussed the benefits and downsides of municipally owned recreation areas - one of the downsides is the cost of building and maintaining them - and options such as recreation areas on private property, recreational areas in new developments and working with the Freeport School District on developing other play and leisure areas.

The townships are right in not ignoring the importance of the recreation issue at this time, since the two townships are expected to experience a combined population growth of 18,000 over the next 25 years.

"We've got a lot of work to do," said Dan Przybylek, who chairs the committee.

The important thing is that the work is under way.