Spencer Geibel Funeral Home & Cremation Services expanding
As Butler residents drive up the hill on New Castle Road toward Butler Senior High School, they might notice a construction entrance below the normal access point to Spencer D. Geibel Funeral Home & Cremation Services.
This is due to what owner Spencer Geibel calls “Phase 1” of his new “state-of-the-art cremation center.”
In addition to a crematorium, the nearly $2.5-million investment will add 3,800 square feet, which will include more office space, an urn showroom, a garage and 84 new parking spots.
“There will be over 100 parking spots,” Geibel said. “We are going to enlarge our current lot.”
As Butler residents drive up the hill on New Castle Road toward Butler Senior High School, they might notice a construction entrance below the normal access point to Spencer D. Geibel Funeral Home & Cremation Services.
This is due to what owner Spencer Geibel calls “Phase 1” of his new “state-of-the-art cremation center.”
In addition to a crematorium, the nearly $2.5-million investment will add 3,800 square feet, which will include more office space, an urn showroom, a garage and 84 new parking spots.
“There will be over 100 parking spots,” Geibel said. “We are going to enlarge our current lot.”
Geibel opened up at 140 New Castle Road in July 2019, and said his funeral home helped more than 300 families last year. With the additions, he hopes to potentially double that number.
“It has grown very rapidly,” Geibel said.
Framing for the project started in the early weeks of April, with a completion date targeted for August or September, he said.
“Excavation is done, foundation is done,” Geibel said.
Geibel purchased 16 acres for the additions, and the project takes up 3 acres of that land.
Geibel plans to use the extra land in some way, but he is not exactly sure what its future will be at this time.
“I can’t state what the plans are yet, because they are not set in stone,” Geibel said.
Geibel’s business is designed to accommodate everything from traditional funerals to simple cremations.
Much of his business involves a simple service followed by cremation, he said, and the new design will help him serve more families than before.
The entrance to the funeral home also will get a touch-up closer to the end of construction.
“We are still using the main entrance, but there will be a much nicer entrance because I’m able to increase the size of my current lot,” Geibel said.
Last July, Butler Township commissioners approved a request from Geibel to subdivide a parcel of land and construct a facility that will include a crematorium.
The township's zoning hearing board granted a special zoning variance to Geibel in April 2022, which allows the crematorium to be built within 500 feet of residential homes.
“The crematorium is allowed to go in the district,” Jesse Hines, Butler Township zoning officer said. “It’s not allowed as a permitted principal use, it’s allowed as a special exception. There are all kinds of special exception uses in every district. Whenever it’s an accessory to a funeral home, crematoriums are allowed. They went before the board and got their approval for special exception.”
This article originally appeared in Butler County Business Matters.
