As Costco gets ready to build a major gas station as part of its development in northwest Lawrence, Walmart has filed plans to build a gas station of its own in southeast Lawrence.

Walmart has filed plans with Lawrence City Hall to build a convenience store and fueling station in a portion of the parking lot that serves the Walmart store on south Iowa Street.

The plans show the convenience store and fueling station would be in the portion of the parking lot closest to the intersection of 34th and Iowa streets. If you are having a hard time picturing the spot, that’s the entrance that has the Walmart parking lot to the north and Crown Automotive to the south.

Plans indicate the fueling station would have eight, dual-sided pumps, meaning up to 16 vehicles at a time could be fueled at the location. The plans also show about a 1,600-square-foot building is planned for the site.

While Walmart operates two stores in Lawrence, this would be the company’s first fueling station in Lawrence. The fueling stations are common at many Walmarts across the country. Many of them include small convenience stores, which appears to be the case with this filing. Many of the fueling stations also are aggressive in their pricing of gasoline, often offering prices lower than competitors, in addition to offering special discounts to customers who belong to one of Walmart’s membership programs.

The Walmart development, coupled with the Costco development, may have Lawrence on the verge of a price war for fuel.

The Costco fueling station is a bit of a different deal than what is proposed for Walmart. As we reported in November, the site plan for the Costco development shows a fueling station with 24 pumps, so it will be about three times larger than the proposed Walmart facility. The Costco fueling station, I believe, will be the largest in Lawrence when completed.

However, you generally have to be a members of Costco’s wholesale club to buy gas at a Costco station. (In case you don’t know, you have to have a membership to shop at the main Costco store as well.) That likely won’t be the case at the Walmart location. While Walmart does operate some membership only gas stations at its Sam’s Club locations, the gas stations at general Walmart stores are open to the public at large.

The Walmart fueling station will be significant for another reason — it will be the most southern gas station in Lawrence. Currently, there are no gas stations south of 31st Street.

The plans filed with City Hall don’t indicate when Walmart is likely to complete the project. However, the site already has the necessary zoning for the development, and thus the project largely needs only technical planning approvals to proceed.

Costco has announced a timeline for its development. The Costco store, including the fueling station, is expected to be open by Thanksgiving, a representative of the development group recently announced.