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The City of Surrey has created joint-venture partnerships to develop a mall, erect 141 townhouses and build a large brewery.

Opposition council candidate Grant Rice said Thursday that warning bells should be going off about the city’s foray into moneymaking enterprises usually left to private developers.

“The people running the Surrey City Development Corp. don’t have the expertise to handle multimillion-dollar projects. They’re burning through $1 million a year and the taxpayers know very little about it,” said Rice, who is running for the Surrey Civic Coalition.

“I’m sticking up for private developers here and asking how we can insure that they have a level playing field,” said Rice.

Meanwhile, Mayor Dianne Watts’ office has released the details of three joint-venture projects with private businesses that will start in 2012:

• A $25-million development at the Cloverdale Mall with 102 residential units and 2,000 square metres of retail;

• A $39-million townhouse development in East Clayton with 141 units;

• A $15-million brewery, office and retail project that will take up 9,200 square metres in Bridgeview.

Independent mayoral candidate Ross Buchanan said the corporation’s annual financial statement reads like an “Enron” balance sheet because details have been left out about the contracts and who is earning $632,000 in salaries.

Buchanan, who is challenging Watts’ Surrey First party, said the corporation was almost $3 million in the red at the end of 2010. Expenses in 2010 were $1.3 million.

“The political involvement by the mayor and councillor [Linda Hepner] as directors of the corporation creates a conflict of interest with what’s best for the city,” he said.

Buchanan said there are inherent business “risks” such as those involved in the money-losing Olympic Village in Vancouver.

“Some developers go bankrupt a couple of times,” he said.

Watts, meanwhile, said the corporation will provide huge benefits for the city and save taxpayers’ money.

It makes “strategic” land purchases, shapes growth, lowers taxes and adds “significant value” to city holdings, she said.

“We want to create a revenue stream to help pay for capital projects like a new performing arts centre,” she said.

Watts said the corporation’s $2.8-million deficit will be “wiped out” this year as land sales bear fruit.

The salaries are necessary to manage major projects such as the city’s new $38-million library, she said.

Other Canadian cities have established corporations similar to Surrey’s, including Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton, she said.

“Edmonton is very active in residential and industrial land development,” said Mark Hall, Edmonton’s development manager. “It is a for-profit venture.”

Watts said she will never be in a conflict of interest.

“I will always do what’s best for the city,” she said.

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