A new strip mall is more than likely coming to Albert Lea, City Manager Chad Adams said Monday night.

The Albert Lea City Council approved removing the easement northwest of Walmart to allow Timber Development Corp. to construct a strip mall.

The council approved the relocation of the property boundary to meet the needs of the development plan for the proposal.

Adams didn’t identify a specific retail business that would be featured, and said a restaurant is possible. He said the timing of the construction will be up to the developer and a building permit is still needed.

“Anytime they can add any retail business gives people more places to shop,” said 4th Ward Councilor Reid Olson. “And being close to a major intersection, it gives destination travelers another place to shop and possibly another restaurant to eat at in the vicinity.”

In other news:

The Stables Area Flood Mitigation Project came one step closer to completion.

The City Council approved an agreement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to authorize the construction.

The project, a collaboration between the Shell Rock River Watershed District and the city, involves taking excess rainwater and storing it upstream from Fountain Lake. District officials are looking to construct a large storm water basin on city landfill property, south of the city transfer station on the north side of Albert Lea. The project will be paid for through state funding and the half-cent sales tax. Storm water piping will run from the Stables area at a collection point where the water will be placed into the flood mitigation basin. The Stables area covers an approximately 438-acre area southwest of the transfer station.

Construction is anticipated to begin this year with completion in fall 2016.The Watershed District awarded a bid for the project last month to Sorensen Brothers, an excavating contractor, for about $1.08 million.