Why Lowcountry Churches Should Invest in Parking Lot Line Striping

Your Charleston, SC church is central to the community providing a haven where locals can congregate in a safe place of worship. However, you also have a responsibility to the community to maintain your property so it doesn’t create an eye sore or present risks for people visiting your church. Here we look at why it is so essential for Charleston churches to include regular parking lot line striping in their property maintenance budget.

What is Parking Lot Line Striping?

Parking lot line striping ensures your parking lot has distinctly allotted parking spaces for your staff and visitors. The process applies a fresh coat of paint to not just your parking spots, but also to mark safety zones for emergency vehicles, pedestrian paths, accessible parking, and restricted areas where parking is not allowed.

How Often Should Parking Lot Line Striping Be Scheduled?

On average, parking lot line stripes begin to fade between 18 to 24 months. However, timing varies depending on the amount of traffic, climate, and the quality of the traffic paint and application method used. As a result, it’s best to call in the experts to repaint your parking lines using durable, high-quality paint that will extend the lifespan to last up to three years before fading.

How Does Parking Lot Line Striping Improve Safety?

Parking lot line striping might not seem to play a significant role in parking lot safety. However, upon closer inspection, the importance starts to become clearer. Striping is not just designed to indicate parking spaces. It is also key to helping visitors stay safe by managing traffic flow to prevent accidents. With clearly marked parking spaces, you create logical roadways drivers follow while also designating safe pedestrian walkways. In larger lots, you can also include stop signs and directional arrows to improve traffic flow and ensure everyone understands their right of way. As a result, you reduce the risk of accidents, whether it is a vehicle collision or pedestrians being struck by vehicles. You also reduce congestion, providing a less stressful environment on busy days with high visitor traffic.

Why is Parking Lot Line Striping ADA Accessibility Compliant?

As a place of worship, you want to ensure everyone feels welcome and can attend worship and events without issue. However, you are also responsible for complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act. You must provide accessible parking spaces at least 96” wide with a 60” wide access aisle and van-accessible spaces at least 132” wide with a vertical clearance of 98”. Accessible parking spots must be marked to indicate that parking is designated for disabled visitors.

The number of accessible parking spaces required is based on the following:

• Up to 100 parking spaces: One accessible space for every 25 spaces.
• 101 to 500 parking spaces: One additional accessible space for every 50 spots.
• 500 to 1,000 total spaces: 2% accessible parking spaces.
• 1,001 or more total spaces: A baseline of 20 accessible spaces and one additional spot for every additional 100 parking spaces.

How Does Parking Line Striping Optimize Space and Minimize Damage?

Whether your parking lot is massive or tiny, designated parking spaces allow you to optimize your lot footprint. A well-thought-out plan uses lot line striping to help improve the use of your parking, creating more parking and ensuring each space is suitable for all sized vehicles. Without lines, drivers find it difficult to determine the proper spacing between cars, making it harder to open doors safely without damaging neighboring vehicles. It also makes getting in and out of vehicles challenging when parked too close together.

Does Parking Lot Line Striping Improve Curb Appeal?

Yes, parking line striping helps maintain property value and demonstrates your donations are put to good use. You want to attract more people to your congregation. Curb appeal helps present a positive first impression that shows the community you care about your church and take pride in maintaining the property for your gathering.

Reduced Liability with Clearly Marked Parking Lot Line Striping

A safe parking lot with improved traffic flow, clearly marked pedestrian walkways, and compliant accessibility contribute to reduced liabilities. Injuries and accidents on church property can hold you liable for medical bills and vehicle damage. However, if your parking lot is well maintained with clear markings, you can reduce the risk of accidents and avoid liability by proving you took reasonable care to provide safe parking.

Long-term Cost Savings with Parking Lot Line Striping

Your congregation’s donations will also be used more responsibly with ongoing parking lot maintenance that avoids more costly repairs down the road.
Although regular parking lot line striping might not be included in your property maintenance budget, as you can see, it is a worthwhile investment to keep your property safe and appealing.

EverLine Coatings offers durable and dependable church parking lot line striping. Request a free quote from us today!