Eighteen months in the making, Mackinaw City's park and greenways plan was explained to the Village Council Thursday, November 6, then adopted unanimously and made a part of the community's land use master plan now under development.

Village Manager Jeff Lawson took about 30 minutes to review the 56-page plan, covering use of the village's 132.2 acres of parkland and how they will be developed during the next decade. The principal importance of the plan, Mr. Lawson explained, is its role in getting grants from the state and federal governments to achieve the plan's goals.

"You're not even eligible to apply to the state for parks and recreation funds unless you have an approved plan," Mr. Lawson explained. "That's the primary reason we have a plan."

Chief among the plan's 18 goals is promoting recreation facilities in the village and guaranteeing access to all parks, existing and in the future.

He cautioned that money, from whatever source, will play a major role in the plan's execution, with cheaper parts being done now and more expensive ones, such as linking trails to parts of Emmet County and Petoskey coming along later.

In other matters, Ronald Wallin, village president, threw open the floor to a discussion of the village's downtown blight, which he identified as houses, service stations, and other structures in need of maintenance and repair.

"It's growing increasingly around town," Mr. Wallin said. "To me, this is unacceptable."

He proposed that blight be dis- cussed at a coming joint session of the council and the planning commission, probably in January.

He noted that officials do tour the village and list blighted structures every spring, "but just making note of them isn't enough. We have to be more proactive."

The council also named John Riemer, an area teacher who specializes in private music lessons, to the nine-member Mackinaw City Planning Commission. Dawn Edwards and the Reverend David Wallis were named to the Economic Development Corporation, which assists in downtown planning. Mrs. Edwards is executive director of the Mackinaw City Chamber of Commerce. Rev. Wallis is pastor of Church of the Straits.