Having a parkade I think is the better of the 2 evils which is surface parking surrounding the arena, like is the case with the Saddledome. Lots of people still will take a car regardless if there are 3 transit lines unfortunately. I just hope they dont keep any of the parking lots and just develop all of them as fast as possible.
First, the parkade proposed on-site is just a perk for CSEC, it's only for owners, players and other elites - it does not work towards providing general parking supply in the area for visitors. So all the impacts to the ground floor and arena configuration options that are limited due to the choice of add that parkade are to support that perk.
Second, while the goal is to redevelop much of Victoria Park to the north with development, the actual arena project is likely adding at least the amount of surface parking it is replacing. The overall project already included the parking lots near the CP Rail tracks being expanded and upgraded and the whole deal is conditioned to remove the Saddledome and replace with surface parking.
Further, the work to update the Stampede master plan and Victoria Park area redevelopment plan enshrines the Saddledome site and the majority of Stampede Park to continue as a parking lot for the foreseeable future. Yes, plans can change - my issue is that the decision makers involved in the area (the city, CSEC, Stampede) have shown limited success/interest in reducing parking lots and their impact in the past 5 decades of their involvement:
- The Stampede seem totally content with 10 days a year of activity and keep their parking lots to support that.
- CSEC isn't a developer and have demonstrated they might not even understand how development works (and therefore why having less surface parking/more development might be good).
- The city seems pretty neutral to the whole thing, and seem content to allow the status quo to continue (even when the status quo is a giant, ugly surface parking crater).
Taken together, no matter what happens with the arena, I'm not holding my breath on any significant change in the amount of surface parking in the area in the medium-term. We may see some unrelated development north and west of this arena/convention/stampede parking crater over the long-term, but there's no evidence the arena project would impact the timing of this other development.