As a candidate for Town Council, I, Lina Lee, have been clear about my priorities: protecting what makes New Canaan special while planning responsibly for the future. That means supporting local control, fiscal discipline, and open, transparent decision making.
The exact claims made by a letter to the editor were already raised in the other town media, and I am happy to address them again here. In regard to my prior work, I founded and led a law office that represented residents and neighborhood groups against predatory developers across New York City who illegally abused fair housing and affordable housing laws. That work also included protecting tenants’ right to a safe and habitable home, basic legal protections that any community should expect. I saw how broad housing mandates and zoning rules can miss the mark when they ignore infrastructure, schools, and the unique character of each neighborhood. I also fought against city approved rezonings that allowed developers to take advantage of loopholes at the expense of local residents.
The real challenge is understanding the details, because without that understanding, it becomes impossible to push back effectively or design better, locally-driven solutions. Today, in my statewide role leading the Connecticut Bar Association, I work on governance, budgeting, and policy issues that affect communities across Connecticut. Those experiences have reinforced for me that real progress depends on thoughtful, local decision making, not one-size-fits-all mandates.
In Connecticut, laws such as 8-30g allow developers to bypass local zoning unless a town meets a state formula for affordable housing. That law was written for dense urban markets and does not fit small towns like ours. The Fair Share proposal would have gone even further, requiring towns to meet state calculated quotas without considering infrastructure, schools, or fiscal capacity. These uniform policy approach may sound fair in theory but rarely deliver workable results for towns like ours.
I believe New Canaan can continue to lead by example through thoughtful, locally-guided planning that protects our character while addressing real needs in practical ways. That balance, and the experience it takes to achieve it, is what I will bring to the Town Council.
We need candidates on Town Council who have deep experience in these areas to lead these conversations and Row A candidates are the only ones willing to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work to find community-friendly solutions that work for New Canaan.
— Lina Lee
Candidate for New Canaan Town Council
