Surrey city council took a big step to “re-operationalize” the Surrey City Development Corporation recently by instructing city staff to start recruiting independent board members.

A corporate report that came before council on March 6 notes that the process to re-operationalize the SCDC as a for-profit development company is “relatively straight forward.” Council will appoint members to the board through an Expression of Interest recruitment process and then approve the SCDC’s board appointment for its president, endorse a strategic plan, financial plan and finally approve the president’s appointment of a chief financial officer, corporate secretary, solicitor and vice president of development.

“I am quite thrilled to see this,” Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said at council’s March 6 meeting before the report’s recommendation’s were carried. “To see the completion of centre block, I think that’s going to be wonderful for this area. Also I noticed in the report there’s talk of them working in the Newton area which will also be part of something we want to see happening soon and I hope we get them to start to work too on some of the opportunities around below-market housing for the city.”

The SCDC was set up to accelerate growth in Surrey through strategic real estate development.

Coun. Linda Annis echoed Locke’s comments.

“What SCDC has done for our city in terms of getting the city centre started and what they’ve done around city hall, our civic plaza and in Campbell Heights, it’s been phenomenal and including bringing much-needed revenue back into the city and I’m just very pleased to see that we will have them as a partner, working with our development community to bring other exciting things to the city,” Annis said.

Last November council voted to have staff prepare a plan toward reactivating the SCDC as it was before the former council’s Safe Surrey Coalition majority brought it under city hall’s control in 2020.

The SCDC was formed in 2007 with its own managers and board, to raise the value of Surrey-owned surplus land, but the SSC dissolved the city-owned, for-profit real estate company and transferred its operations and assets to city hall.

tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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