Josh Olhava, AICP, PCCP, and David Land, PLA, have been promoted to group supervisor roles to lead Ayres’ Western planning and landscape architecture staff. Olhava brings 12 years of planning experience to his supervisory role, and Land brings 30 years of landscape architecture work to his new position. Ayres seeks to promote from within, providing opportunities for employee-owners to rise into supervisory or technical leadership roles.

Ayres has quickly grown its planning and landscape architecture services in the West, and Olhava and Land have helped lead that charge.

With a strong background in community and strategic planning, Olhava is well versed in land use planning policies, procedures, and regulations. He has experience working in the public sector as a community planner on policy and plan implementation, code amendments, development review, and organizational process improvements. While working for Broomfield and Windsor in Colorado, Olhava managed complex development cases and led multidisciplinary teams on projects. Olhava is president-elect of the American Planning Association Colorado Chapter.

Olhava has served on teams developing comprehensive plans and updates, regional plans, and corridor studies for communities. As a certified planner and certified change practitioner, he uses his diverse skills to develop effective solutions to land use issues. He’s highly regarded by communities for leading and guiding creative and innovative planning initiatives and bringing together community members and stakeholders to achieve common goals. He will use those same skills to help our Western planning staff – and their clients – to succeed.

Land brings the perspectives of both consultant and client to the table. From working as a landscape architect at the Denver Zoo to implementing brownfield projects, he has lots of exciting experience to share with our clients. His projects benefit from that understanding, as well as his genuine passion for problem solving. Land has collaborated with an array of local, national, and international consultants, client teams, and sector experts to steward detailed design and implementation. This includes consultants in structural, mechanical, civil, electrical, environmental, healthcare, sports and recreation, zoological, and water feature realms. He has extensive experience in regulatory entitlement, planning, design, and construction administration for complex site projects. Land’s ability to team with a diverse cross section of clients and stakeholders will serve him well in his supervisory role.

“These promotions formally recognize the leadership Josh and David have already brought as Ayres has established a reputation for innovation and collaboration for clients in the West,” says Christina Hiegel, PE, Development Services manager. “Those clients see the value of a multidisciplinary team that brings exceptional creativity to the table with singular focus on identifying every opportunity to make a project address even more needs than they thought possible. I look forward to seeing what emerges next from David and Josh’s team-building ability.”

Olhava earned a master’s degree in community planning from the University of Cincinnati and a bachelor’s degree in community and regional planning from Iowa State University. He is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners and is a Prosci certified change practitioner. Land earned a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Ball State University and is a licensed professional landscape architect in Colorado and Wyoming.