Orginally published on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 6:28 PM
by Todd Rhoades
For growing churches, parking quickly becomes a number one issue. My church, for instance, just bought a home right next to the church so that we could remove it to provide more parking. Bill Couchenour, the President of Cogun Builders has a book out called "Churches...Before You Build" that addresses many of the ‘rules of thumb’ that churches should look at when building a new facility. We’ll share some insights from time to time here at the blog since many of you have either gone through building projects; or will do so soon. Here, for example is some practical advise about "parking"…
1. You should plan on one parking space for every 2 to 2.5 people in attendance on site at one time.
2. You can fit about 100-110 parking spaces per acre that are used for parking only. (This assumes efficient layout with parking on both sides of driving lanes and allowing for landscaping and general access.)
3. The standard parking space should be 9 feet by 18 feet. (For handicapped spaces: 8 feet by 18 feet with 5-foot access isle. This requirements vary by local codes)
4. You should have roughly 1:25 ratio between regular parking spaces and handicapped spaces. (For example, if you have 25 total parking spaces, 1 should be earmarked as handicapped).
5. 90 degree parking on both sides of two-way driving lanes is generally the most efficient layout for parking.
Hope some of you find this interesting and useful. For more information, you can contact Cogun at their website; or you can order a copy of the book "Churches...Before You Build" by going here.
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There are 5 Comments:
I'm a chronic workaholic, love to connect leaders with other leaders, and would consider myself somewhat of a 'maven'. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you'll like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step.
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Posted by sarge
Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 6:36 PM
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Thursday, June 30, 2005 at 12:37 AM
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Posted by J. R. Miller
Sunday, December 18, 2005 at 4:20 AM
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Posted by S. Anderson
Saturday, April 29, 2006 at 4:57 PM
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Posted by Dream Girl
Thursday, June 05, 2008 at 2:43 PM
Post Your Comments:thanks for recommendation of this book! I’m going to need it.
If anyone wants to know about building parking lots, contact Tom Messer at Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, FL. He has built a few of them.....
http://www.tbc.org
As a trained engineer, architect, construction manager, pastor and church consultant, I have seen a lot of stuff. Check out my book “A Comprehensive Guide to Church Construction” which has sold thousands of copies over the years and saved churches lots of heartache and money.
http://www.emerginglife.org/chat/kb.php?mode=article&k=226
Parking can be tricky. Some cities really impact parking by the amount of green space, water detention and even the number of tress you need to plant per a gvien number of parking spots. My analysis of parking in most churches seems to come in between 2.25 and 2.5 people per car, however, if you are running multiple services, you will find that you may need more parking and “driving space” to adequately handle the transition time. You can find more good free guidelines and tips on financing and building churches at http://www.churchbizonline.com.
very informative information, thank you for posting.
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