Christchurch Adventure Park
| Christchurch Adventure Park | |
|---|---|
Christchurch Adventure Park is closed until further notice due to fire damage
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| Type | Mountain bike park |
| Location | Cashmere, New Zealand, Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 43°36′S 172°38′E / 43.60°S 172.63°E |
| Area | 358 hectares (880 acres) |
| Created | December 2016 |
| Operated by | Select Evolution |
| Open | 365 days a year. Summer gates open 9am - 9pm, Winter 9am - 6pm |
| Status | Opened to the public on 21 December 2016 closed since 13 February 2017 due to fire |
| Website | Official website |
Christchurch Adventure Park is an Adventure park in the Port Hills of Christchurch, New Zealand. Built by the Canadian company Select Evolution, it had its opening function on 16 December 2016. The 1500 holders of special passes could ride from 17 December, while the park opened to the public on 21 December. According to the developer, the 358 hectares (880 acres) park with a 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) chairlift and initially 50 kilometres (31 mi) of downhill tracks is the largest facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. The park closed on 13 February as a precaution due to a nearby fire and two days later, most of the park's tree cover had been destroyed in a large wildfire. The lift and ziplines have suffered significant damage, and the park's condition is much worse than the operator initially thought. No reopening date has been set, and "it won't be a quick fix".
The idea for the mountain bike park was pitched to Select Evolution, the owners of a similar park in the Canadian ski resort Whistler, in 2011. Fiona Sutton, the founder of Select Evolution and the company's president, spent almost four years in Christchurch to make the development happen. Select Evolution applied for resource consent in 2014, and 640 submissions were received by Christchurch City Council as the consenting authority, with only 35 of those in opposition. The hearings were held in November 2014, and consent was granted in January 2015. None of the opponents made use of their option to appeal the decision to the Environment Court. The Overseas Investment Office (OIO) gave approval in March 2016, after which construction work began. The office's decision was not publicly released until May 2016, though.
Parts for the park's chairlift and much of the bike rental fleet were stuck in Wellington after the port was damaged in the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, but this did not cause a delay to the planned opening. It cost NZ$20m to build the park, and the government made a NZ$2m grant available in May 2014. This grant was given on the condition that the park was to be open by December 2016, which forced the developer to proceed at a high speed after construction started.Christchurch City Council later also granted NZ$2m in support of the investment. Just over half of the park's funding came from overseas sources.
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Wikipedia