1. Driving to St. Paul

• There is a driveway on either side of the church building.  Which one should I use?  Neither one is clearly marked.

a. Suggestion:  Mark the left drive as ENTER and the right as EXIT.    There should be lighted signs on double posts for durability sufficiently into the grass so that they do not get damaged when snow is plowed. Circular flow in an out will smooth traffic flow and increase safety.

b. Suggestion:  Paint arrows on the pavement to help direct traffic flow.  Make them big.

c. Suggestion:   Put a lighted sign on the corner of the gym directing exiting traffic behind the building to the exit.

d. Suggestion:  Put a large Exit sign at the Nutone property line directing exiting traffic behind the building to the exit.

a. Suggestion:  Provide six to ten visitor parking spots on the entry drive across from the handicapped spots, but past the corner of the building so that the entrance canopy can be seen.   Mark these spots with a sign painted on the pavement in the driveway at each spot.

b. Create visitor and handicapped parking spots near the school entrance.

c. Suggestion:  Add a driveway and parking spots across the front of the building marked for visitors.  Reestablish one of the front entrances with clear signage to the door.  May need to modify the landscaping to make this more obvious.

d. Suggestion:  Establish a reserved spot for the MCCC van that has a minimal impact on Sunday parking, but is not inconvenient for MCCC.

e. Suggestion:  Encourage Village residents and staff not to park in church lot on the weekends.  If vehicles parked there are not associated with the church, MCCC, or Village should be warned with a note on the windshield on first offense and then towed.

• Main entrance from parking lot has large green canopy.  There are steps and a wheel chair ramp.  There is a door opener for the physically impaired.

a. Suggestion:  While the message on the end of the canopy suggests that this is the main entrance to the building, it can only be seen from out in the parking lot.  Add signage over the wheel chair ramp that can be seen from the driveway.

a. Suggestion:  Add lighted sign indicating that this is both a church and MCCC entrance.

b. Suggestion:  Add an automatic door opener so that it is handicapped accessible.

a. Suggestion:  Have lighted signs that can be programmed when these are open for special events such as the rummage sale, sporting events, Easter egg hunt, etc.

• Add large video monitor to the narthex and the school entrance to provide direction to visitors.  These may not always display the same information.  During the week the school entrance monitor could be a big help to MCCC.

a. Suggestion:  Mount a large computer controlled monitor directly across from the entry hall to the narthex.  Have rotating display of slides with basic information about the facility and specific events for the day.  No more than 6 to 8 slides.  Some examples of slides for a Sunday:

i. Picture and name of preacher and liturgist indicating whether they are resident or guest.
ii. Picture and name of organist, choir director, and special musical guest.
iii. Picture and name of elders for the day indicating who is serving at which service.
iv. Map of the facility.  This may be too much data for one slide.  Perhaps a translucent three dimensional layout of the whole building that breaks itself into parts to show detail.
v. Calendar of the events for the coming week.

a. Suggestion:   Counter or table (stand behind counter, site behind table, or stand in front of table are options) in the narthex in front of the windows manned with smiling faces.  Be able to provide lots of information both verbally and with handouts.

b. Suggestion:   Greeters staff the visitor center before the services.  Don’t hesitate to get out from behind the counter/table if someone looks lost, but hasn’t asked for help.  If we have more than two ushers for the service, the others could help with this function.

c. Suggestion:   Greeters staff the visitors center after the services.  Visitors may have questions.

d. Suggestion:   Have a lot of tri-fold brochures.  The draft visitors one is a great start.  They can be on topic such as:  the pastor, the staff, the elders, Bible classes, Sunday School, youth group, young adults, LWML, Federation, Thrivent projects, our constitution, mission outreach, MCCC, Martin Luther, the Augsburg Confession, LCMS, MEAC, VBS, St. Paul Village, our history, communion, basics of the Christian faith, maps to our church and layouts of our facility, stewardship.  We may be able to find published sources for many of these topics.  Each of these should be reviewed at least yearly.

e. Suggestion:  Have all of the brochure topics on an interactive touch screen.   Perhaps this is pointing to our web site.  This would provide information to people in the building at any time of the week.

a. Suggestion:   Every door in the building that is not a storage closet or utility room should be marked with an over-the-door sign perpendicular to the wall.  Signs should be simple, readable, consistent, and easily replaceable as the function of rooms changes.

b. Suggestion:  For class and meeting rooms, have a wall mounted, changeable sign for an 8.5”x11” page that is easily changes.  For Sunday School this could be a picture of the teacher, his/her name, the grades, etc.

a. Suggestion:  It is really nice to have it light at night, but we need to find a way to have it light with consistent brightness from top to bottom.

b. Suggestion:  Our street number should be very visible from a passing car at night as well as during the day.

c. Suggesion:  Change St. Paul Lutheran School letters to St. Paul Lutheran Church.

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updated:  March, 2008