Who We Are – Pacific Land Group


Pacific Land Group is a regional land-use consulting firm with a unique combination of land-planners, environmental specialists, and urban designers. We specialize in developing creative solutions to difficult land use, design, and development questions.

Working towards one goal Effective Land Use Planning & Environmental Solutions


Who are we?

  • Land use and development consulting firm founded in 1996
  • 9 core team members
  • Planners, urban designers, project managers and environmental specialists
  • Specialize in solving complex land use and related environmental issues

What do we do?

  • Work for both private and public clients
  • We specialize in highest and best land use studies, typically involving tough land use issues and have been hired by property appraisal firms, lawyers, local government, developers and private property owners
  • Development approvals- managing development projects through municipal approval process which can involve extensive public consultation programs and putting together design teams with the right sub-consultants to address the specific project needs

What makes us stand out?

  • Innovative solutions for complex land issues
  • We think outside the box, identify how to achieve a solution and then determine how to accomplish this within the existing guiding policies and legislations applicable to the project

What are we passionate about?

  • Cost effective, unique solutions
  • Bringing businesses to our region
  • Creating a positive work environment for our staff- supporting our team`s interests

Land Use and Development Planning

Oleg Verbenkov

Oleg Verbenkov, BA, CSP, MCIP, RPP
Principal

Oleg is an expert in land use and development planning with over 35 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

Laura Jones, BA, CSBA, MCIP, RPP
Senior Development Planner

Laura is an experienced development planner with over 16 years in the private sector. 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

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

Rosa is a planner 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 including public consultation. Rosa is also responsible for conducting detailed land use research, producing urban design briefs, preparing highest and best land use assessments, and preparing planning rationales. Rosa's educational and professional background combines international development, urban design, environmental management, and city and regional planning.

Skye BellSkye Bell, BA, MCP, Cert. Legal Administration
Planning Analyst

Skye is a dynamic planning professional with over eight years of real estate experience. She manages and coordinates development approval processes, such as rezoning, subdivision and development permit applications. Skye also prepares complex reports, including highest and best land use assessments and land use strategies. With a background in law and affordable housing development, Skye excels in creating development concepts, coordinating public engagement, formulating economic development and sustainability strategies, and preparing reliance documents for appraisal and legal work related to real property issues.

Jon Maselli, BA (Hons), MPlan
Planning Technician

As a planning technician at Pacific Land Group, Jon brings a passion for livable urban design and lends his planning expertise to projects of all scales. Jon draws inspiration from his diversity of planning experience across Canada and applies a collaborative and design-oriented approach to his work. Being proficient in AutoCAD, ArcGIS, Adobe Creative Suite, Lumion, and SketchUp, Jon supports the planning and environmental divisions by providing assistance on a full range of planning work, including spatial analysis and urban design, land use and best practices research, policy review, and proposal preparation. 

Environmental and Floc Systems

Kyla Milne

Kyla Milne, BSc, RPBio, P.Biol, QEP
Environmental Specialist/Lead Biologist

Kyla is a Registered Professional Biologist (R.P.Bio), Qualified Environmental Professional (QEP) and PLG’s Lead Biologist. With more than a decade of experience in the industry, she specializes in aquatic and terrestrial ecology, construction planning and management, environmental compliance and permitting. She has significant experience conducting watercourse assessments, environmental monitoring, and other field assessments (e.g., bird nest surveys). Kyla is skilled in the preparation of environmental reports, such as 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/Compensation Plans and is skilled in the preparation and execution of permits and approvals, including; Water Sustainability Act (WSA) applications, DFO Request for Review (RFR) applications, and wildlife and fish salvage permits.

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

Bridgette is a Biologist in Training (BIT) with bachelor's degrees in Biology and Ecological restoration. She joins the Pacific Land Group Environmental Division with three years of applied experience in environmental monitoring, invasive species management, and ecological restoration field work. Bridgette specializes in aquatic surveys (fish and fish habitat, amphibians, and wetlands), vegetation inventory and management, aquatic and riparian habitat restoration, and environmental reporting.

Kim Nguyen, BSc
Environmental Technician

Kim is an Environmental Technician with a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science, specializing in Applied Biology. She has experience in the public sector conducting fieldwork including groundwater and surface water monitoring, benchmark surveying, overseeing the construction of observation wells, aquifer testing, and groundwater quality sampling. At Pacific Land Group, Kim has assisted in water sampling, ESC monitoring, RAPR assessments and provides overall technical support.  

Chau Le

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.

Administration

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, Accounting and Business Finance
Accounting Administrator

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

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.