Parking has become a serious problem for some O’Hara residents and patrons of a township cafe.
Police have issued about 30 tickets within the past few weeks in connection with parking issues related to Curbside on the Run.
The casual cafe, located near the intersection of Powers Run Road and Camberwell Drive, is owned by Fox Chapel couple Kylee Witchey and her wife, Avia Benzion.
Its popularity has spiked this year due to positive patron posts on social media, according to employee Sydney Mealey.
That has led to customers parking in the lawns of some residential homes, in front of fire hydrants and other places marked with no parking signs.
At a council meeting May 12, resident Randy Thompson likened the area to a zoo between 10:15 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
“They can use their parking lot,” Thompson said. “The rest of Camberwell Drive is where we live and is our parking. They should only park in their lot.”
The cafe is open from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and is closed on weekends.
Council chambers was packed with people eager to hear about what could be done to quell the problems.
Police Superintendent Jay Davis said officers spent about 8½ hours of directed patrol on Camberwell Drive in April and 12 hours in May.
Township officials acknowledged the parking problem and announced they are working with PennDOT to turn a vacant lot between the business and Route 28 into a municipal parking lot, creating about 16 spaces.
Manager Julie Jakubec said the lot will be available for public use and not just Curbside. It is unclear when a deal with PennDOT would be made. The lot would have to be graded and milled before use.
Resident Rebecca Tyers Brown said her disabled sister lives on that road and requires constant care, which means regular visitors and traffic to the home.
She said cafe patrons have been nothing but cordial despite some residents being aggressive, blasting their horns.
Brown questioned whether parking was really the problem folks had with the business, which has a large mural with colorful characters.
Councilwoman Olivia Payne addressed additional comments Thompson made about the cafe.
She said at no time did council discuss shutting Curbside down or declaring Curbside a nuisance.
Payne also let audience members know council would not address hearsay and other speculative issues regarding the business.
“We are not here to sling mud,” she said. “We are not here to call names. We are not here to be hateful. We are here to solve a parking problem. We’re Pittsburghers and we pride ourselves on being neighborly. We don’t want to leave here tonight not being neighborly.”
Witchey started as Curbside Coffeehouse in 2008, taking over an existing cafe in Blawnox.
Curbside relocated to O’Hara in 2023. It added grab-and-go, heat-and-eat meals and spring salad bite flights last year.
Witchey said she has given up the employee lot to customers and made various other moves to address parking.
“I want to work with the community so I can continue to operate the business that I love,” Witchey said. “My intent was never to create a problem. In fact, I don’t think Curbside has ever done anything that would be considered misconduct. We’re simply busier than anybody really ever anticipated.”
Mealey, a Millvale resident, has worked at the cafe for about three years. She said it feels like a family and everyone supports each other. Mealey said she understands the residents’ concerns and has directed customers not to park in front of homes or on lawns.
Witchey declined to comment after the meeting.
Resident Lou Marsico, who is an engineer for Curbside, said they have a plan to create seven additional spaces by mid-June, involving some grading and moving trash bins.
The project would give Curbside a total of 22 spaces. Paving may take place later in the summer.
Marsico said the combination of Curbside lot changes and the PennDOT lot “will solve 99.99% (of the problem), but there will be issues at some point.”
Resident Tanya Strausbaugh, president of operations and property management for a privately held property management company, said parking is the biggest complaint in her industry. She said Curbside has a very difficult issue and resolving it will require teamwork.
“When people go up and they want to go to a business or enter their home where they have the expectation of parking and don’t have it, they lose their minds,” Strausbaugh said.
There is a link on the cafe’s website with suggestions of where to park, which does not include Camberwell Drive.