Who We Are – Pacific Land Group

Oleg Verbenkov, BA, CSP, MCIP, RPP
Founding Principal

Oleg is an expert in land use and development planning with over 40 years of combined public and private sector experience. As senior planner and senior project manager, he leads our teams in multi-disciplinary assignments involving various professional services, including engineering, environmental, urban design, landscape architecture, survey, appraisal and land economics. Oleg is a skilled facilitator and is often called upon to handle challenging assignments that typically involve difficult site conditions, complex negotiations or competing visions.

Laura Jones, BA, CSBA, MCIP, RPP
Managing Partner

Laura is an experienced development planner with over 20 years of combined public and private sector experience. With a background that includes local government experience, Laura excels at preparing and managing development applications. She is skilled in project coordination with local government agencies, engineers, surveyors, architects, landscape architects and project managers. With a wide range of experiences in the development field, Laura is an expert at understanding big picture planning principles, breaking them down and identifying the key tasks to create a successful development strategy.

Rosa Shih, BES, MA (Planning), MCIP, RPP
Senior Planner

Rosa has worked in the planning industry for over ten years, with a comprehensive skill set drawn from private and public-sector planning experience in British Columbia and Ontario. She is responsible for coordinating and managing municipal approval processes, Agricultural Land Commission applications, and preparing highest and best land use assessments. In addition to municipal approvals, Rosa is a qualified expert witness, producing expert witness reports and testimony. Rosa's educational and professional background combines international development, urban design, environmental management, and city and regional planning.

Gabriella Sipsas, BA
Planning Assistant

Gabriella is a planning assistant in her second year of work since completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Sustainable and Environmental Geography at the University of British Columbia. Gabriella assists in the coordination of development approval processes, such as rezoning, subdivision, development permit, building permit, temporary use permit and strata conversion applications. Gabriella excels in application submission coordination, researching land use policies and drafting reports. Gabriella has experience with municipal contract planning support, most recently working on assignment as a planning assistant for the City of Maple Ridge.   

Kyla Milne, BSc, RPBio, P.Biol, QEP
Lead Biologist

Kyla is a Registered Professional Biologist (R.P.Bio), Qualified Environmental Professional (QEP), and the Lead Biologist at PLG. With fifteen years of industry experience, she specializes in aquatic and terrestrial ecology, construction planning and management, environmental compliance, and permitting. Kyla has significant field experience in watercourse assessments, environmental monitoring, and specialized surveys such as bird nest assessments. She is highly skilled in preparing technical environmental documents, including Ecosystem Development Plans (EDP), Construction Environmental Management Plans (CEMP), Riparian Area Protection Regulation (RAPR) assessment reports, Erosion and Sediment Control (ESC) Monitoring reports, and Habitat Restoration and Compensation Plans. Her work regularly supports permitting processes and regulatory compliance, including Water Sustainability Act (WSA) applications, Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Request for Review (RFR) submissions, and fish and wildlife salvage permitting. Kyla’s recent municipal project experience includes watercourse classification, development permit (DP) support, and natural resource development support. She also has experience preparing expert witness reports for legal cases involving land use and environmental matters.

Bridgette Knowlan, BSc, BIT, BC-CESCL
Field Biologist

Bridgette is PLG’s Field Biologist. She brings six years of experience conducting field-based assessments, including vegetation surveys, invasive species management, bird nest and raptor monitoring, fish and amphibian surveys and salvage, stream and aquatic habitat assessments, habitat restoration, and construction environmental monitoring. Bridgette has strong experience supporting environmental compliance through Riparian Area Protection Regulation (RAPR) assessments, Erosion and Sediment Control (ESC) monitoring and reporting, and the preparation of regulatory documents such as fish and wildlife permits, Water Sustainability Act (WSA) approvals, Ecosystem Development Plans (EDPs), and Habitat Restoration and Compensation Plans. In recent years, Bridgette has provided key support to municipalities in the processing of building permit applications involving complex environmental issues, including setbacks to watercourses, habitat impacts, and permitting requirements. She brings a strong commitment to ecological restoration and sustainable development, helping ensure projects meet environmental regulations and best practices across a wide range of development contexts.

Brianna Archibald, B.Sc.

Junior Biologist

Brianna is a Junior Biologist. She supports a broad range of ecological and environmental monitoring initiatives, contributing to both fieldwork and technical reporting. Brianna has a strong background in breeding bird surveys, particularly in the context of peak-season development projects, and has significant experience serving as an environmental monitor on marine and aquatic-based construction sites. Her work includes water quality monitoring, Erosion and Sediment Control (ESC) inspections, wildlife and fish salvage, and riparian area assessments. She also provides support on projects involving watercourse classification and Riparian Area Protection Regulation (RAPR) assessments and contributes to the preparation of Development Permit (DP) applications. Brianna’s contributions are instrumental in navigating complex environmental requirements and ensuring regulatory compliance for a variety of development projects.

Chau Le, BC-CESCL
Civil Engineer/Floc Systems Specialist

Chau is a Civil Engineer who works in collaboration with Pacific Land Group's Planning and Environmental Divisions to create custom design solutions specific to each project. Chau also collaborates with Hub Engineering and PLG/Floc Systems to assist with engineering design plans, Erosion and Sediment Control (ESC) and water quality solutions.

May Thwin, PCP
Payroll and Accounting Administrator

May joined Pacific Land Group's Administration in 2019 and is the face of our administration team. She has over ten years of experience in customer service, accounting, business administration, and payroll. 

Roshini Sachithra, MBA, BSc. (sp). Accounting and Business Finance
Accounting Bookkeeper

Roshini joined Pacific Land Group in 2022. She has extensive knowledge of Accounting and business finance, payment processing and acts as an inter-liaison between Clients and Staff. 

Valerie Hollman
Office Receptionist

Valerie has been our Receptionist since 2017. Her experience stems from 15 years in a customer service position, and her responsibilities at PLG include switchboard operation, office letter preparation, and courier/mail service coordination.