John was a planner for 37 years. He built a reputation for his ability to energize communities around their shared vision. He worked with communities to develop prioritized strategies and actions that enabled their vision to take shape through an actionable plan. The mark of John’s leadership is a plan that is successfully implemented at the city or regional scale and transitions into projects at the community or neighborhood scale. John is known for his work in Portland, where he served as the planning director for five years at Metro, and was the primary author of Metro 2040.
Since founding Fregonese Associates in 1997, John had led or played a part in nationally significant regional plans, including the Compass Blueprint Growth Vision for the Southern California Association of Governments, Envision Utah, the Sustainable Places Project in Austin, Louisiana Speaks and Sustainable Development for the Louisiana Coast Handbook. John also led the East Baton Rouge Parish Comprehensive Plan, a project that spurred unprecedented public involvement in the Baton Rouge area, particularly from under-represented groups. Since its adoption, the plan is beginning to take form in a number of planned infill developments and transit improvements.
In addition to large regional projects, John also had a long and successful track record of citywide comprehensive plans, downtown and small area planning in cities and communities of all sizes across the country, including the Beaverton Creekside District Master Plan (Beaverton, Oregon) and the Lafourche Parish Comprehensive Resiliency Plan (Louisiana). John also led the Beaverton Civic Plan (Beaverton, Oregon), the Dallas TOD station area planning project (Dallas, Texas), and PLANitULSA, a comprehensive plan for Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Dallas TOD project, which included plans for neighborhoods near seven DART light rail stations, spurred the construction of four mixed use buildings and received an APA award. PLANitULSA is currently being implemented by the city. John also led planning projects for Pointe Coupee, West Feliciana and East Feliciana Parishes in Louisiana; Denver, Colorado; Dallas and Waco, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; and small area plans and corridors including Beaverton, Hillsboro, and the Barbur Boulevard and McLoughlin Corridor in the Portland metro region.
John passed away in 2018 but his legacy and influence will continue to impact the communities he worked with for years to come.
Remembering John
John Fregonese passed away on June 16, 2018, surrounded by his beloved family. John loved his friends and experienced great joy in getting to know and spend time with you. We are grateful that you added to his happiness and zest for life. Please feel free to add your remembrances so we can all celebrate our friend whose life we treasure and whose legacy we now carry.
John's family would love to see Ashland's Perozzi Fountain restored. You can help make that happen by contributing to the Fregonese Associates' Butler-Perozzi Fountain Restoration Fund. Please click on link below to find out more information.
