BANGOR – City councilors this week approved a request to rezone the site Penn National Gaming Inc. has picked for its $90 million permanent gaming facility.

The 9-acre site at issue, referred to as the Riverside Block, encompasses all the land between Lincoln and Dutton streets and from Main Street to the railroad tracks along the Penobscot River.

The vote to rezone, which took place during a regular meeting on Monday night, was unanimous.

The change from the previous urban service and waterfront development districts to contract waterfront development district designation would pave the way for a 116,000-square-foot gaming facility housing up to 1,500 slots and accessory uses, including a 1,500-space four-story parking garage and seven-story hotel.

Conditions of the rezoning include providing at least three off-street parking spaces for every three slot machines and at least the minimum number of off-street parking spots required by the city for any other land uses, such as the hotel.

Before recent waterfront redevelopment efforts began, the waterfront was zoned industrial due to its historic uses, which included a railroad yard.

A small portion of the property in question already zoned waterfront development district is land owned by the city that was part of the former rail yard.

In a related measure, the councilors also discontinued the lower end of Buck Street, which is a dead end, and discontinued a public easement on Emery Street, which was taken off the list of city public streets in early 2000.

Both no longer are needed because they have become part of Hollywood Slots’ permanent project site.