It was a red-letter day of sorts on Thursday when the Southern Pines Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend that the Town Council approve the proposed Comprehensive Long-Range Plan.

There will be one more opportunity for residents to voice opinions about it at the council's March 9 meeting. It took a lot of work to get the document to this point. But the real work comes after the "final" approval.

Once the plan is in place, the task will be to go about seeing how to achieve all or any of the goals it sets forth. That, in turn, will take money, time, effort and much planning and prioritizing. The specific subject that is deservedly likely to get the most attention is the neighborhood plan for West Southern Pines and how to make that area more a part of the larger community.

The Advisory Committee and those private citizens who got involved have done their part so far. But no one's job is finished. Once the plan is in place, it will take everybody pulling together to accomplish anything significant and lasting. To paraphrase Churchill, this isn't the end. It isn't even the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning.