Plans for a big box store near a historic Toronto neighbourhood are a good fit for the area, a representative with the development company behind the planned project says.

“We strongly believe in our project and that it’s the right project for the Bathurst corridor, and we really think it’s a great opportunity for the community,” Jordan Robins, senior vice-president of planning and development at RioCan, told CP24 Thursday afternoon.

The statement comes ahead of community meeting Thursday night to discuss the development proposal to build a three-storey shopping mall at Bathurst and College streets, between Toronto’s Kensington and Little Italy neighbourhoods, on the former Kromer Radio site.

The shopping mall would house a downtown-sized Walmart and an underground parking lot, RioCan has said.

“The meeting tonight is really an opportunity for us to present the details of our proposal, and to listen, and to answer questions that we hear back from the community,” Robins said.

The proposal has caused a backlash from some community members.

As of Thursday evening, a petition started by Kensington Community School Council’s Dominique Russell had amassed more than 65,000 signatures from people opposed to the project.

“Everything I love about my neighbourhood is threatened by this proposal: the human scale of the streetscape, the skyline, its walkability, the local independent businesses that give Kensington Market and Little Italy their character,” Russell writes in the petition. “A mall this large will flood one of the most exciting pedestrian areas of the city with cars.”

Russell said she’s concerned Walmart’s prices would prevent smaller local businesses from competing effectively, forcing their demise.

“It’s important to note our development is not in Kensington Market,” Robins said. “We’re about five blocks west of Kensington Market and we strongly believe in our project and that it’s the right project for the Bathurst corridor, and we really think it’s a great opportunity for the community.”

The proposal is currently being considered by the Ontario Municipal Board as it does not fit with the city’s Official Plan. It has already been rejected once by the board.

“The OMB denied RioCan’s application for process reasons and did not make a decision based on the merits of the proposal,” a statement released by RioCan Thursday afternoon states. “RioCan has accepted the OMB decision and is now following the re-zoning process laid out by the OMB.”