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Remember when Rogers Place was just a twinkle in Daryl Katz’s eye?

Remember when we were all told that there was plenty of downtown parking available to accommodate the thousands of people who would head to the new downtown arena for games and concerts?

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Remember when we were told that the arena was going to be fantastic boon for urban development, that it was going to help Central McDougall blossom, that it would help eliminate the blight of ugly gravel parking lots in the city core?

I’m surely not the only one who recalls the promises and the commitments about the power of a new hockey rink to transform the cityscape.

And yet, there’s the white-and-blue sign on the fence outside the arena site, explaining that the Katz Group is asking the city to rezone a sizable swatch of land behind the arena — 3.6 hectares or the equivalent of two city blocks — as a gravel-topped parking lot, with room for 800 vehicles. According to the zoning application, the site could remain a gravel parking lot for up to 10 years.

Now, this may not look like much of a rezoning, since the land in question is a gravel parking lot operated by Impark.

But the Katz Group application would tidy up some zoning irregularities and allow continuation of parking for a decade.