Committee: Cannoneers Can Only Paint W. 5th St. Press Box, Shed

Lansdale Cannoneers wants to give back to Lansdale Borough—but it's recommended the youth sports and cheerleading organization only go so far.

Lansdale Parks and Recreation Committee last week recommended it accept the Cannoneers' offer to powerwash, clean and paint a restroom pavilion at the West Fifth Street Park ballfields.

"That's a nice gesture that they want to do that," Parks and Recreation Director Carl Saldutti said.

The offer came with something else—a request to paint the pavilion the organization's colors of green and white.

Cannoneers also wants to paint a pressbox and shed on the site its colors and brand it with its logo.

Saldutti recommended Cannoneers be allowed to paint the pressbox and shed.

The pavilion, however, should is a different story.

Saldutti's rationale—the Cannoneers' colors on every building in a community park would make it appear that it is their facility.

"My recommendation is, while we appreciate the gesture, to allow them to go forward and paint the inside of the bathrooms, which will add value to the site. Since they do pay for the pressbox and shed, they can paint that their colors," Saldutti said.

Saldutti said the borough also has a brand and a color palette. He said the pavilion should be painted borough colors in all fairness to the community.

"My thought is that the pavilion, because it's part of the original construction," keep with the borough's brand and palette," he said.

Saldutti said the pavilion and restroom facilities were incorporated in one location with the original development of the park.

"Subsequent to that, the Cannoneers came forward and asked the authorization of council to put in a two-story pressbox building on the site," he said.

"If Cannoneers should cease to exist or move, it turns over to the borough and/or there is an option for Cannoneers to take it, tear it down and restore it to its original condition," Saldutti said of the two buildings. "They paid for the building to be constructed." 

Cannoneers also built a shed next to the pressbox, which is used for merchandise sales at games.

Saldutti said Cannoneers would be allowed to paint the pressbox and shed white with green trim.

The borough's color palette includes colors like blue, yellow, gray and terra cotta.  

"Isn't that a lot of colors for the snack stand," asked Councilman Rich DiGregorio Jr.

"You don't use them all," said Saldutti to DiGregorio. "You use a combination of colors."  

Council Vice President Mary Fuller, who chairs the parks and recreation committee, suggested either blue and yellow for the pavilion or just the Lansdale logo in blue.

"We have other users than the Cannoneers," Fuller said. "I agree with the recommendation that we can choose the colors of the pavilion, and we really should. That's part of the point of rolling out the brand and having people to start to recognize it and identify with it."

DiGregorio recommended the inside of the restrooms be painted bright colors, like white, tan or yellow.

"I don't think green," said Fuller. "And I don't imagine they would want to paint their logos in a bathroom." 

She recommended the colors be a complement to green and white.

"Discover Lansdale changed a lot of stuff over to terra cotta, and it matches with the green we use in the First Friday logo," she said.