Janet Tharp

Partnering Project Manager

Janet Tharp specializes in project management, comprehensive and special district planning, and public outreach and values research. Tharp also specializes in code drafting, historic preservation, and development support. Over the past 26 years she has worked extensively in both the public and private sectors, honing the ability to address individual client needs while developing practical and innovative plans. Tharp is especially talented at developing plans with strong implementation mechanisms.

Tharp's clients have included municipalities, regional organizations, airports, nonprofit organizations and developers. In the private sector, Tharp has prepared zoning codes, comprehensive plans, neighborhood plans, and economic development plans for clients across the country, including communities in Texas, Nevada, Oregon, and Alaska. She has also prepared special districts and development research. Tharp is currently managing the East Baton Rouge Parish Plan, the Coastal Development Best Practices Study, and the Greater Downtown Waco Plan for Fregonese Associates. She has worked closely with Fregonese Associates on several projects in the past, including West Feliciana Parish Plan, the Pointe Coupee Parish Plan, and the Tulsa Comprehensive Plan.

In the public sector, Tharp served as the Assistant Director of Planning in Dallas and Arlington, Texas. In these executive positions she was responsible for managing all aspects of the planning office. In Dallas, she was responsible for rezoning properties in the city to new zoning districts, for leading the team to develop and adopt Dallas' ForwardDallas! Comprehensive Plan, and for administering the city's historic tax abatement program. She also headed the team that rewrote the Arlington, Texas zoning ordinance and subsequently rezoned the city.

While bringing a wide range of experience to the projects in which she is involved, Tharp believes that planning must be based on local values and traditions. She seeks to understand diverse community guiding principles and viewpoints and incorporate them into her planning work. Having managed large consultant contracts, both as a client and as a consultant, strong project management and communication are key skills she brings to her work.

Tharp has served in leadership roles in regional and state planning groups, she has served two terms on Dallas' Landmark Preservation Commission, and is an active volunteer in several nonprofit organizations.

Tharp has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon and a BA in Geography from the University of Texas at Austin.