in our Spotlight on Business Report the four-year Warehouse fight in Warren County has finally come to an end with a surprising twist the roughly 3 million square foot large buildings will not be constructed along the banks of the Delaware River as proposed instead the state of New Jersey is now stepping in to buy most of the property and make it preserved Farmland as Ted Goldberg reports the decision comes after a grueling battle waged by local GR Roots groups this Farmland in White Township will likely remain Farmland despite a yearslong saga that almost led to a warehouse here we have to save this it just keeps shrinking and shrinking and shrinking and uh these Wildlife has nowhere to go Butch vanet and his wife Linda live three miles from here and they take pictures of the animals who fly hop and trot around this nearly 600 acre parcel of land this field alone it gets covered with the snow geese every year on her migration which is very important this land is owned by jandal a Pennsylvania based developer who intended on building a large Warehouse here nearby residents started to organize against these plants spreading word around and crowding planning board meetings pollution the road traffic uh my house would have been worth so much less we started uh in a little bowling alley that you can see the roof of here with uh probably less than a dozen people membership wise uh judging by Facebook well over a thousand people Tom balski was thrilled to hear that the state and jandal have started negotiations to sell most of this land and have it stay as preserved Farmland the price and the source of that money are part of those negotiations politicians being who they are they react to uh their constituents i' I I want to Pat my organization on the back because we very much kept this matter in the Forefront we were boisterous we were numerous and we attended every meeting the community simply can't support it and I think the ultimate outcome is the result of what happens when good people get together for good causes they they produce good outcomes as warehouses spread throughout New Jersey balski says other communities can learn from the example set by him and his allies I believe that we could teach other organizations a lot but really the key is um getting getting the PE the the public uh motivated and uh then keeping them motivated cuz after four years that's a tough sled these people just wouldn't give up uh they are large organization um they're able to fund raise and stay out of it a lot of people get exhausted fighting these Elliot ruga works for NJ Highlands Coalition a North Jersey nonprofit that focuses on protecting drinking water and the environment he says this sale is a good idea for both sides when this developer came here he expected within a matter of months to get their Municipal approvals after four years they finally realize they're throwing good money after a bad project I think they're happy that they're able to get out of this gracefully perhaps not lose money on the purchase to the land and move on WE reached out to jandal for the story and didn't hear back the warehouse would have been placed along the uniquely named foul Rift road but this is one Rift that could end up with all sides happy with the outcome in White Township I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight News