The family says they're happy it's all over.

"I'm glad the whole thing is over and we can go back to farming and don't have to worry about this anymore." said Jeff Johnson, co-owner of the 300-acre potato farmland, after the county announced a plan to buy his land fell through.

"This is no longer a viable project for us and the community lost a fabulous opportunity over money." said Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli.

The farmland on White Wagon Road in the Town of Chemung was the site where a Fortune 100 Company wanted to build a distribution center.  The center would have brought about 700 jobs to the area.

Santulli said the County eventually offered $3 million to buy the Johnson’s entire farm, but the family turned down the offer.

The County Executive said he called them one last time Wednesday, to see if the family changed their mind.

Johnson answered and the plan was still off.

"I got a phone call yesterday afternoon form Tom asking if I reconsidered.  I told him at that time the property is not for sale.  He said thank you and that was the end of the conversation."

Santulli said the County is no longer pursuing eminent domain because company officials said they can't wait for that process to run its course.  Santulli also says he notified the company Thursday they could not strike a deal with the Johnson family.  He says the company is now looking elsewhere, and it isn't in the Southern Tier.

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