Jason Sorens, Amherst Planning Board Candidate

Jason Sorens

Age (as of Election Day)

46

Position sought (including district number if applicable)

Planning Board, 3-year term

Party Affiliation

None

Family

Wife Olga and three daughters, aged 9-12

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

PhD, Yale, BA, Washington & Lee

Occupation

Research faculty, 19 years

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

None

Campaign website

https://sorens4.us

Why are you seeking elective office?

To help make Amherst an even better place to live, work, and recreate

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Applying the law fairly, objectively, and consistently. I’m intimately familiar with the statutes and ordinances governing our work. I will hold applicants accountable to our standards without making up strained, inconsistent, or arbitrary interpretations to get to a predetermined outcome.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I’m for keeping our current ordinances with a few tweaks and applying them consistently. That would result in modest growth over time, and the tweaks would encourage conservation protection. The other candidates favor some or all the anti-subdivision efforts on the ballot and are more in favor of large-lot sprawl development.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

We’ve lost three court decisions (two lawsuits) in the last year and a half because of planning board decisions, costing us $60,000 in legal fees. We need to apply the law fairly, objectively, and consistently. A radical anti-growth faction on the board managed to narrowly win a majority to endorse articles 41 and 52, significant takings of our neighbors’ property rights. One member of this faction verbally attacked citizen witnesses who disagreed with him. More of the board needs to show up to meetings to prevent this sort of thing from happening again.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

We have an opportunity in Amherst to develop our half-vacant industrial district and reduce our tax burden. We can do this, as Bedford did, by using performance zoning and mixed use to induce private financing of wastewater improvements. With the new master plan, it’s the right time to do real planning and bring together capital improvements planning and zoning amendments to get development that is a net positive for the town.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I’m the principal investigator on the New Hampshire Zoning Atlas, coming out from Saint Anselm College next month. I’ve also produced a lengthy report on zoning and the housing market for the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, and that research has gotten a lot of media and citizen interest in events around the state. It’s fair to say few people in the state know more about our zoning than I do. As part of these efforts, I helped put together a coalition of people from left to center to right who were interested in zoning and how it affects our housing shortage. I’m doing the same in this campaign, and I’m grateful for the diverse coalition of town leaders backing me.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Find and cultivate your comparative advantage. In economic terms, that means to focus on doing well what others can’t do as well for themselves. That expertise commands value in the market, whether it’s the market of ideas or the job market.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

A lot of the discussion online brings up the fact that I’m the founder of the Free State Project. Some people don’t like that; others do. I’m a moderate libertarian independent; I judge each candidate as an individual and don’t vote a party line. I hope others would do the same for me. Check out what I actually want to do for Amherst and see if you agree. There’s no hidden agenda, just a desire to better our town and prevent some of the harmful things being proposed. I hope you’ll join me!