Leaders at Bethel Bakery exploring options to expand parking for customers

Attention is brewing around a proposed variance for Bethel Bakery to expand its parking.

Now, in its third generation of ownership, the property owner said they need a variance approval to expand the parking behind it. The popular bakery says more parking is part of a bigger vision for the area.

Bethel Park residents know very well that the bakery is a landmark in a busy location off South Park Road where the traffic doesn't stop customers.

"Two hundred fifty to 300 customers come through our doors on a Monday," Bethel Bakery senior adviser John Walsh said.

The busy roads and full parking don't stop its 92 employees from meeting the demand and making it to work either. But it comes with a struggle, Walsh said.

"Not all of them can fit on this site. I would like to see our cars off the street to relieve some of the pressure, the feeling you get of driving down the street."

He said sometimes it results in damage to employees' cars. His business isn't the only one in the building either.

The property owner says people might not know there are seven other apartments attached to the building, in addition to the Pennsylvania State Mayors Association office.

Walsh said some employees currently park across from the business, but it sometimes crowds their neighbor, the Bethel Park Fire Department. However, he proposed a solution: more parking on land he and his wife already own. 

That property is 5172 Park Avenue. It currently sits untouched as a house.

"We own it, my wife and I own it," Walsh said.

The house remains on the site because it needs approval for a variance to be transformed into a parking lot, but it's not without public pushback.

Sam David, who lives nearby, says the previous owner's "dying wish was not to sell this house to the fire department or Bethel Bakery." He added that he feels "that this is a residential street and it needs to stay residential."

But Walsh said, as a lifelong resident, he knew the owner so well that they kept in touch with the family members taking care of him, and the owner hadn't lived in that home for about a decade before Walsh and his wife bought it.

"They knew full well what our hopeful intent was with the property and they selected our offer," said Walsh. 

It's an offer that's part of a potentially bigger plan, according to Walsh and renderings on a public Bethel Park plan.

"The municipality has procured two lots behind the bakery. Their hopes are eventually to turn those into parking lots," said Walsh. "This is something not off the charts or unusual to have."

With parks, splash pads, Reginald's coffee shop, and more along Park Avenue, it's a lot of activity brought to the center of Bethel Park.

"To all of that positive energy, we just want to keep it going and make it easier for people to shop in this area," Walsh said.

The variance is open for consideration during the public Bethel Park zoning and hearing board meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday in the municipal building.