The Grant County Airport Industrial Park is getting another tenant.

The John Day City Council, in its Feb. 26 meeting, voted unanimously to approve the sale of a one-acre lot in the industrial park to Mark Moulton Construction & Cabinets.

Moulton’s business builds custom homes, cabinets and countertops. Moulton said he expects to begin construction of a building on the site by April and be moved in by May. He is obtaining building permits for the project now.

“It feels good, really good to get things moving,” Moulton said. “I already have the plans for the building. Once we get the permits, we’ll start building. It should take about two and a half weeks to put the building up.”

The council approved Moulton’s move into the industrial park, but there were concerns voiced in the community that allowing a construction company to move into the park could open the door for more similar businesses in the future.

Although construction makes up a large part of Moulton’s business, he has built and shipped cabinets and counter tops to Joseph, Baker City and Burns.

“I’m in total agreement with allowing Mark to move up there, but it’s kind of setting a precedent for construction businesses,” Jerry Franklin said. “I’m not totally opposed to that; there is 100 acres. There’s plenty of room.”

The rules for the industrial park don’t limit the type of businesses that can move in, according to Grant County Economic Development Coordinator Sally Bartlett. The only qualifications are that the tenants employee three people full time and plan to expand.

John Day Mayor Bob Quinton said he believes any business could be beneficial to the industrial park.

“This will give us another tenant at the industrial park and that’s a good start,” Quinton said. “It breeds success. If a company sees more businesses going to the park more are likely to want to move in. It builds interest in it.”

Mark Moulton Construction & Cabinets will be the third business to operate in the industrial park. Winner’s Choice Custom Bowstrings was the first to move in, settling into the area in 2003 – three years prior to the completion of the park. Motion Targets was the second business to locate there. Both companies are owned by Winner’s Choice CEO Mike Slinkard.

Winner’s Choice took advantage of the industrial park’s enterprise zone classification to help the business grow. Winner’s Choice had 13 employees when it opened in the industrial park. It now employs 40 people and had more than $2 million in sales last year.

“Before the industrial park became available, there wasn’t any industrial property available for me to grow my business,” Slinkard said. “We almost had to leave Grant County to grow. The park gave us the ability to grow in Grant County. The enterprise zone also helps because the tax incentives are awesome.”