Eight miles downriver from Niagara Falls, Grand Island Senior High School suffered from forced athletic forfeits. Surrounded by the Niagara River on the United States/Canadian border, parts of Grand Island, New York, have a high water table and poor drainage. Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Brian Graham, describes how it affects their athletics, “The grounds have serious drainage issues. In 2019 our baseball and softball teams lost five of our home games due to unplayable fields. Spring practices occur in the gymnasiums as our teams can’t practice on our fields due to standing water. We consistently need to rent baseball fields off-island to play home games when our fields are unplayable.”
To solve the problem, Dr. Graham revealed their plans to “build an all-purpose synthetic turf softball, baseball, soccer, football, and lacrosse athletic complex including a concession stand, restrooms, sidewalks, and lights.” The multipurpose athletic area consists of a permeable stone drain basin topped by artificial turf and 2 in (5 cm) of infill. Around the 1,830 ft (558 m) perimeter of the field, a dual-function concrete barrier serves as an anchor for the turf surface and as the foundation for fence posts. The 18 in by 30 in (46 cm x 76 cm) profile is below grade, so the top is flush with the turf surface. The barrier also includes a continuous rebar cage, sleeves for fence posts every 10 ft (3 m), and a notch to anchor the turf.
General contractor Northeast Paving selected Millennium Construction to perform most of the concrete work for the $7 million complex, including the field’s perimeter barrier, 44,000 ft2 (4,088 m2) of flatwork, and 1,400 ft (427 m) of 6 in (15 cm) curb. Millennium had hand formed a comparable turf anchor two years prior, taking them a month and a half. Having owned a Power Curber 5700-Super-B for several years and, having just bought a new Power Curber 5700-D, Superintendent Joe Mardocco wondered if they might be able to slipform the foundation to save time. Mardocco describes the struggle for approval, “no one had ever seen this application slipformed, so they didn’t want it. I spent weeks on the phone with engineers and the school district and many meetings to get this approved.” He finally received permission but under tight scrutiny. “The first day we slipformed was a trial day, and if they didn’t like it, they weren’t going to let us continue,” Mardocco explained. “I tell you what; I was extremely nervous going into it,” he admitted.
With that new power curber 5700-d, there was no lack of power. It was as smooth as could be.
Joe Mardocco, Superintendent
Equipped with a custom mold from Power Curbers set up to pour below grade on their new 5700-D, Millennium began the test. Mardocco emphasized, “with that new Power Curber 5700-D, there was no lack of power. It was as smooth as could be . . . within the first truck and a half, I got a phone call from the purchasing manager that was looking at pictures. He said it was the most beautiful curbing he’d ever seen and to continue slipforming.” A few areas, like the safety net foundation behind home plate, had to be handformed, but Millennium completed nearly the entire field perimeter in three days. Joe was impressed with the performance of the 5700-D, the support from Power Curbers, and the month of work saved on this job, emphasizing, “I believe Power Curbers goes above and beyond what most suppliers do. You can be the smallest guy or the biggest, and you get treated fairly across the board.”
Millennium Construction is a family-owned, tight-knit business of over forty employees started by siblings Tom Cefalu and Melissa Panzarella and their spouses, Gail Cefalu and CJ Panzarella. They have many years of construction experience between them and a strong friendship tracing back to their teenage years. Based in Niagara Falls, NY, they perform all construction ranging from epoxy flooring to full-depth road reconstruction throughout New York and Northern Pennsylvania.
Florida Asphalt & Concrete owns some 20 molds for various curb applications. They have found that James Pennington in the factory Mold Department moves quickly to supply their needs. “Every time we send over our requirements, the factory gets it into production right away,” says Adam.
