It takes a village to make a village.

That, it seems, is one of the conclusions to be drawn from a report by Essex's Long-Term Planning Committee, titled the Essex Village Initiative.

And while unstated, another conclusion to be drawn is that the village will never become a reality unless town leaders and other interested residents act on its recommendations.

The report, 28 pages long and three years in the making, was commissioned by selectmen in 2007, who called for a long-term vision and strategy for the downtown that would embrace both the town's history and culture. The report responds with 13 suggested projects in the "village" district — about 11âÑ2 miles of Route 133, including the Causeway, and portions of Southern, Eastern and John Wise avenues and Martin Street.

The recommendations range from economic development to housing, recreation, transportation and pedestrian improvements. And according to the committee, not all of them require professional planning and construction. Some, such as "pocket parks" on small parcels of town land, can be done by volunteers, since they would involve things like landscaping and benches.

Most projects will take a push from town leaders and some money. But the possibilities are exciting. Among them are a renovation of Town Hall, improving or relocating the Police and Fire departments, replacing the tennis courts at Memorial Park, improving the sidewalks along Route 133, adding a walking path along an old railroad bed, and moving the 19th-century B&M railroad freight house from Island Road to Main Street, between the White Elephant antique store and the Shipbuilding Museum.

Obviously, with money tight at the state and local levels, these proposals and goals cannot be done quickly or all at once. But local business community activists Bob Coviello, Sue Lufkin and their Long-Term Planning Committee colleagues have done a good job pulling this report together. And selectmen and other officials should make sure that this report does not suffer the fate of so many plans — the countless ones carried out in all communities that can take months and years of discussion and study to develop, only to end up gathering dust on a city or town hall shelf or storage basement.

This report is responsive to what both selectmen and local residents said they wanted.

The town's leaders should now make their best effort to see as many of these recommendations through — from a 28-page paper document to reality.