Is Walmart finally making its way to Lindsay?

Store layout in the concept plan resembles traditional Walmart design

The anchor store included in concept plans for a retail development in Lindsay would be 90,000 square feet, just 3,000 square feet smaller than the Walmart in nearby Port Perry.

In contrast, the smaller of the two Peterborough Walmart stores — located on Lansdowne Street in the city — is double that size.

No one has confirmed the names of the retail units designated in the concept plan for the area at the corner of Highway 35 North and Colborne Street West in Lindsay, but there’s been an on-and-off-again push to have retail giant Walmart included in the development.

Prior to the election, Mayor Andy Letham said a Walmart is coming, and as far back as 2003, Walmart received a Valentine signed by more than 7,000 Lindsay-area residents petitioning the corporate giant to come to the municipality.

The anchor-store layout in the concept plan resembles traditional Walmart designs, with washrooms, customer service and other uses along the front of the outlet.

The plan also calls for including a medical clinic and pharmacy.

In total, there are 12 retail buildings designated in the plan, though the anchor store is by far the largest. The next largest is set at about 15,000 square feet, with the smallest at about 3,000 square feet.

The developer will be in the city next week to unveil and discuss the concept plan and take questions from residents. The owners of the property will be hosting a public information meeting at the Fenelon Township Community Centre on Dec. 12, from 6 to 9 p.m.

“I would think, at that time, plans would be presented to the public,” Letham said earlier this week.

The concept plan proposed, created by D.G. Biddle and Associates of Oshawa, also includes 144 townhouse residential units and 390 single, detached homes on various lot sizes.

There is also space designated for parks, a future institutional area, a six-acre undesignated commercial area, and seven acres of “mixed use.”

The property has long been rumoured to include a future Walmart store — a fact never confirmed by the city or the developer.

Earlier last year, Craft Development Corp. president Carmine Nigro said that the company had been working with a “large retail anchor tenant” to occupy space that will be approximately 100,000 square feet in size.

At the time, Nigro said that he was “not able to divulge the identity of the client.”

But he said that Craft has previously worked with clients such as Loblaws, Walmart and Shoppers Drug Mart in large developments.