Industrial Economic Development

Economic Development is NOT about giving tax breaks and incentives for companies.  A stable, healthy company is accustom to paying taxes just like all stable, healthy people do in America.  If a tax break or incentive will make or break a company’s stability or health then the company was never stable or healthy to begin with.

Benchmark provides services to municipalities for what they really need for Economic Development and know what financial reasons companies base their location/retention decisions on.  Planning and providing efficient infrastructure, transportation and site design efficiencies will save more money and generate more revenue for a company and affect its bottom line much more effectively than any tax break.

Benchmark knows that there is no “holy grail” project, each revitalization or development must be carefully planned out and executed in order to be successful.  Many times most people and politicians are not initially in favor of a good revitalization or development project, because they do not understand all the detailed planning that will make it successful.  Benchmark provides the catalyst for development whether it is turning around a stalled middle grounds projects that will demolish 7 buildings to keep over 1,200 corporate jobs, or locating a new auto assembly plant on a landfill and wet lands and moving a poor run down neighborhood to keep over 5,000 jobs in town, or demolishing a drug & crime ridden neighborhood and surrounding landfills to build a new 800 job prison site, or turning an old warehouse on the river into a new restaurant row and community destination at The Docks.

Metropolitan Utility Linking Transportation to Industry (M.U.L.T.I.-Freight)

Benchmark Engineering Group is leading a collaboration of private firms, universities, and government agencies based in Northwest Ohio is developing a platform technology with significant market potential.  The technology, of MULTI-Freight, facilitates the transportation of materials between suppliers and manufacturers in urban areas.  It is a freight-only system that covers short distances and delivers parts reliably, inexpensively, and in a timely manner to support lean manufacturing while reducing pollutants and highway congestion.  It applies global tracking technology, smart transportation systems, bar coding, and computerized logistics planning to effectively manage and control material movement.  The backbone of the system is a 2-way monorail pathway that avoids all at-grade crossings and can use existing rail, road, or utility rights-of-way.  The system will link abandoned and underutilized industrial sites in metropolitan areas to interconnect properties and other transportation systems creating an intermodal transportation system to support manufacturers and their supply chains.

MULTI-Freight System | MULTI-Freight Border Crossing

Disaster Planning & Emergency Management

Benchmark has vast experience in Disaster and Emergency Management planning.  Benchmark has developed Emergency Operations Plans (EOP) for municipal, industrial and telecommunications companies including threat assessment, preparations, response and recovery.  In addition, Tim O’Brien as president of Benchmark has also worked for FEMA Public Assistance Infrastructure (PA Program) as a Deputy Team Leader, Regional Coordinator and Project Officer in disasters for the past 4 years including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in New Orleans as a trained FEMA Specialist in Hazard Mitigation, Debris, Alternate & Improved Projects, Cost Estimating Format, and Project Worksheet Writing.

Environmental Compliance

In addition, Benchmark has experience in industrial facility disaster situations for oil products spill prevention control and countermeasures (SPCC), storm water pollution prevention plan (SWPPP), chemical spills and containment, fire alarm and suppression systems, equipment guarding and fall protection systems. This includes developing plans for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) regulatory requirements

Urban Renewal & Master Planning

Benchmark concentrates our creativity into keeping the past alive. Many old historic buildings and structures are past their useful lifespan, but instead of demolishing our historical past, Benchmark has merged the future into our past. through historical analysis, we work with the historical societies and State Historical Information and Preservation Office (SHIPO) to identify the vital pieces of our history, then we design a modern (many times hidden) facility or support structure that will have all the aesthetics of the past with the safety, stability and functionality that allows the facility to live long into the future.

Municipal Revitalization

Revitalization is an economic rebirth of a community. It is not a magical event, and “if you build it”, they will not necessarily come. Revitalization is a well thought out plan involving land use, utilities, access, parking, logistics, pedestrian ways, mass transportation, structural evaluations, demographic studies, and a well developed business plan. They can take place in green of brownfield spaces, but are most successful in brownfield locations. Too many times, a “revitalization” project is set in an area where businesses are working, and then one are is cannibalized in the misguided pursuit of that one “holy grail” project.