Selling off city land means selling off our future: Councillor Linda Annis
Surrey First Councillor Linda Annis says she is increasingly worried that the mayor’s recent decision to disband the Surrey City Development Corporation (SCDC) and bring it inside city hall will lead to the eventual sale of city land, rather than leveraging the land through long-term leases that generate ongoing revenue for Surrey, while retaining ownership.
Rather than selling off city land, Annis said Surrey should be looking at the UBC Properties Trust model which generates ongoing revenue through long-term leases, while UBC continues to own its land.
“We can learn a lot from the UBC model which typically leases for 99 years. In the process UBC takes home a big dividend each year, giving the university an ongoing and sustainable stream of new revenue,” explained Annis. “In fact, since its inception in 1988, the trust has endowed UBC with $2 billion.”
Annis said land is the City of Surrey’s most valuable city asset and needs to be protected for future generations.
“We have only so much city land and when it’s gone it’s gone,” noted Annis. “Today our land portfolio is worth some $250 million, and we should be leasing it, rather than selling it for a quick hit of cash that does nothing for the future of our city.”
Annis said selling off the city’s land is both short-sighted and a poor business model. “Over the past seven years, SCDC has paid the city $36 million in dividends and has a cumulative surplus of $46 million for reinvestment in future projects,” said Annis.
Annis said she will introduce a notice of motion at the virtual city council meeting on July 27 that calls for one of the major accounting and consulting firms to review Surrey’s land portfolio and make business model recommendations that leverage the land through leasing, rather than selling it.
“We need a model that puts our land to work, but keeps it owned by the people of Surrey,” said Annis. “The UBC Properties Trust model is certainly worth looking at and its results for UBC are terrific and long lasting,” explained Annis. “I worry that when our land is inside city hall it also becomes vulnerable to politics, where it becomes too easy to simply sell off our land as a knee-jerk decision or way to solve a temporary issue such as a deficit.
“Our city’s land assets belong to everyone in Surrey, including future generations,” added Annis. “Every Surrey city council should be looking to make sure we hold onto our land for generations to come. When we own our land we have options, opportunities and dividends for years to come. But, when that land is sold we get one cheque and that’s it, it’s gone for good.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.