Norman Kirk Park

This whole area, now Norman Kirk Park in Kaiapoi, used to be a residential neighborhood before the Canterbury earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. It's less than a kilometer from the center of Kaiapoi, defined by streets like Feldwick Drive, Cass Street, Jollie Street, and Charles Street.

The park itself has a dog park, a nature reserve, sports fields, and a BMX track. A lot of the land that makes up the park came from entire streets like Day Place, Cherry Vale Lane, Cookson Lane, and Beswick Street being removed, along with parts of other streets.

The park is named after Norman Kirk, who was the mayor of Kaiapoi from 1953 to 1957. He went on to become the Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party in 1964 and then Prime Minister of New Zealand in 1972, holding that title until his death in 1974. The park actually inherits its name from an earlier place, Kirk Street Reserve, which was a small playground east of here that also ended up in the residential red zone. That reserve status has since been removed.

After the earthquakes, the damage here was so severe that the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, or CERA, decided the land wasn't suitable for rebuilding, classifying it as a residential red zone. Most landowners agreed to sell their properties to the Crown. Houses were demolished, rubble cleared, and topsoil laid down to encourage grass. For a while, it was kind of an involuntary park, with existing trees and even earthquake-damaged roads and disconnected streetlights remaining until October 2018.

Ideas for what this area could become started with a public engagement process called ‘Canvas’ in 2016. Locals suggested things like parks, dog parks, playgrounds, and nature reserves. The specific design for Norman Kirk Park was developed through discussions and public hearings. In June 2018, the Crown sold the land to the Waimakariri District Council for one dollar, with an agreement to share any future profits. They then released a draft plan for the area, calling these lands “regeneration areas” instead of “red zones.” Old roads were removed, and construction began in October 2018. The park got its official name on September 20, 2019.