The Board of Standards and Appeals will hear WVCP’s appeal of the building permit for the proposed Mission Building at Hudson and Christopher Streets. Every community member can participate, whether or not you can attend the hearing. Written testimony carries real weight and becomes part of the official record — if you cannot attend, please submit a letter.

The one question that matters
The BSA is deciding whether the Department of Buildings correctly applied the zoning rules. Feel free to mention the playground, neighborhood character, and prior opposition as context, but eventually testimony should help the Board answer:
After construction of the Mission Building, where will the legally required open space actually exist?

Three ways to participate
There are three levels of participation, and each one helps. Choose the highest level you can manage:

1. A short online public comment — a few sentences through BSA’s Public Comments form. Good for volume: say you support the appeal and want the permit overturned, and add a sentence or two in your own words about why.

2. A letter addressed to the Board Chair (one to two page). This is the strongest form of written participation and the right choice for anyone with firsthand facts: parents, neighbors, 100 Barrow residents, CB2/LPC participants.

3. Live testimony at the hearing — typically about two minutes. For those who can attend.

Both written routes become part of the official record. But a Chair-addressed letter reads like testimony: it states who you are, what you personally know, why it matters to the appeal, and what relief you want the Board to grant.

Submitting a written letter (the strongest route)
Under BSA’s current instructions, a letter should:
• Be addressed to the Board Chair: Shampa Chanda, Chair, NYC Board of Standards and Appeals, 22 Reade Street, 1st Floor, New York, NY 10007
• Clearly identify the case: BSA Calendar No. 2026-20-A, the property address (497 Hudson Street), and the scheduled hearing date of October 5th and 6th.
• Include a completed Form for Objection or Support, available here:

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/bsa/downloads/pdf/forms_instructions/form_for_objection_or_consent.pdf
• Be emailed, with the form and any attachments, to [email protected]
• Include your name, address, and connection to the school or neighborhood
Two important details about the form:
• The application before the Board is WVCP’s appeal. To back the WVCP’s position, check “I support the application.” Do not check “object” — that would register you as opposing the appeal.

Letters are accepted from the time the application is filed until the public hearing is closed — but submit early. Do not wait for the hearing.

A sample letter is available from WVCP — adapt it rather than copying it verbatim.

Attach photographs, dated observations, or maps if you have them. A photo of a locked gate with a date is evidence.

Submitting a short online comment
Use the Public Comments form on the BSA website: https://www.nyc.gov/site/bsa/public-hearings/public-comments.page. Identify the case (Calendar Number 2026-20-A, 497 Hudson Street), Hearing Date October 5th and 6th) say you support the appeal and want the permit overturned, and give one or two sentences of your own reasons. Even a short comment adds your voice to the record.

Testifying in person
BSA hearings are held at 22 Reade Street, Main Floor, Manhattan, and the Board allows participation both in person and virtually — check the hearing calendar on the BSA website for the session details.

Oral testimony is typically limited to about two minutes — confirm the limit in advance and rehearse to fit it. Two minutes is roughly one double-spaced page. Bring a written copy to submit for the record even if you speak, and consider also filing a fuller Chair letter with the details you won’t have time to say aloud.

A simple structure:
1. Who you are — name, connection to the school or neighborhood, support for the appeal.
2. One or two firsthand facts — this is your most valuable contribution (see below).
3. The open-space problem — the Rector’s Garden is counted despite being private; the Social Hall site may also be needed.
4. The ask — will the church permanently commit both areas? If not, where will the required open space be provided? Ask the Board to decide before construction moots the remedy.

Do not try to cover everything. Coordinate with neighbors so different speakers contribute different facts: one on the locked gates, another on the plans, another on reliance on the recorded commitments, another on the pace of construction.
What to say — the substance

The playground. Describe how it served children and the neighborhood. One point of precision: the playground was not counted in the church’s open-space calculation — do not suggest it was. Its significance is that it was the most practical place the shortfall could have been corrected, and the Mission Building removes that option.

Open space must actually function as open space. The church counts the Rector’s Garden as open space even though it has remained private, closed, and inaccessible. You do not need to cite any law. Testimony like “I have lived here fifteen years and have never once seen that garden open” is the legal point. Lived inaccessibility is direct evidence.

The recorded commitments. If you bought or rented in reliance on the open-space commitments recorded against the property — particularly residents of 100 Barrow Street — say so, as fact. Leave what the agreement means legally to counsel.

Check the plans against the ground. If you review the approved zoning diagrams, note every discrepancy with actual conditions: areas shown open that are fenced or locked, dimensions that don’t match, features missing. Identify the drawing, the location, what you observed, and when. Each specific inaccuracy is evidence that DOB approved the permit on a faulty record.

Construction is not waiting. The playground is demolished and foundations are going in. Describe what you see, and ask the Board to resolve the appeal — or halt work — before completion forecloses any remedy.

Questions the Board should be asked to resolve
• If the Rector’s Garden is counted as required open space, does it currently function as such?
• Will it be permanently opened and legally protected?
• Is the future Social Hall site in the Soutj Garden also needed, and will the church permanently relinquish it?
• Do the approved plans match actual conditions on the ground?
• What legal instrument will prevent any counted area from later being closed (currently Rector’s Garden) or developed?
• If none of the above, where will the required open space actually be provided?

The Board should not rely on occasional access, discretionary permission, or informal promises. Any counted area must be clearly identified, permanently available, and legally enforceable.

The central question
Is the church willing to permanently open the Rector’s Garden and give up the future Social Hall site to cure the zoning shortfall — and, if not, where will the required open space actually exist?

Every letter and every speaker who puts a different firsthand fact behind that question strengthens the record.