Dear Editor,

I am supporting Kunal Botla, one of the three candidates running for the two open seats on our Planning Board. Kunal Botla has clearly indicated that he is for affordable housing in Lexington, for a varied stock, with adequately sized ADUs and single bedroom affordable condominiums or apartments. It is helpful to hear not just that he supports affordable housing, but that he opposes conditions that would prevent the building of affordable housing in town.

A Planning Board member who is truly supportive of affordable housing will seek to make it easier to build affordable housing. A Planning Board member who is truly supportive of affordable housing would not support imposing a multitude of conditions that make it impossible to build affordable housing. Conditions that no trees may be cut down, increasing requirements for more open space, reducing heights of buildings, reducing density of buildings, increasing parking requirements, and imposing age restrictions on who can live in the buildings all make housing more expensive and less likely to be built. 

So while all three candidates for the Planning Board may say they support affordable housing, I believe that only one, Kunal Botla, fully understands what is required to get affordable housing built. Importantly, he would be likely to oppose conditions that would prevent affordable housing from being built.

For that reason, I am supporting Kunal Botla for Planning Board. He is knowledgeable and has the skills required to help the town achieve its goal of a more varied housing stock, while remaining sensitive to community concerns.

I encourage you to vote for Kunal Botla.

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