Waimakariri red zone handed over
Red-zoned North Canterbury land has been transferred from the Crown to the local council for $1 – a move hailed as ‘‘a hugely important milestone’’ in the area’s recovery.
About 80 hectares – 991 properties in Kaiapoi, Kairaki and Pines Beach damaged in the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes – was purchased by the Government due to its quake damage.
It represented about 20 per cent of residential housing in the area.
Ownership of the land was on Friday transferred to the Waimakariri District Council, with 5ha going to the Te Kohaka o Tuhaitara Trust, which manages the Tu¯ haitara Coastal Park in the Pines Beach-Kairaki area.
Both authorities must provide the Crown with a share of any future financial returns on the land.
Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods said the transfer was a ‘‘hugely important milestone’’ for Waimakariri and Greater Christchurch.
‘‘I think that what’s happened here in Waimakariri is a real template for what can happen in Christchurch city as well.’’
She said the transfer was about the land returning to local ownership, allowing communities to have ‘‘power’’ over the future of their community.
Waimakariri Mayor David Ayers said there had been tremendous community support since the September 2010 earthquake.
He said there were already projects under way, including a new road, which will run between Feldwick Dr and Cass St in the Kaiapoi East Regeneration Area and is due to be finished at the end of the month, and a food forest in the Kaiapoi red zone.
The next move would see ‘‘quite a lot of earthmoving’’ to make retention basins for drainage and smooth out land for sports fields.
He said he hoped those who used to live in the red zone would be able to see the area was somewhere the community could be proud of.
Ayers said work was under way along the Kaiapoi riverbank, which was not part of the red zone, but was ‘‘certainly part of Kaiapoi’s and Waimakariri’s regeneration’’.
Te Kohaka o Tuhaitara chair Catherine McMillan said the trust – which was ‘‘deeply committed’’ to supporting and developing community wellbeing – considered it ‘‘a real privilege’’ to have guardianship of the red zone area.
Planned use of the land was outlined in the Waimakariri Residential Red Zone Recovery Plan, which received Government sign-off in December 2016.
The plan would see 41ha turned into green space and 30ha given over to rural use. Developments include sports fields, a dog park, a BMX track and a memorial garden.
A further 9ha has been designated for ‘‘mixed-use business’’. This land will be sold or leased for business and possibly some residential use.
Earlier this month the council promised a long-term plan that set aside $18.6 million for red-zone projects over the next 10 years.