Plans to develop an empty piece of land in a historic Newark district have raised concerns from longtime residents who want to maintain the character of a block they've long called home.

After all, residents say, the fight to preserve their neighborhood isn't new.

"We're here, we've toughed it out and now things are happening," said resident Bill Chappel, who bought his home from the city in 1981. "We would like to at least have a seat at the table before major decisions are made about our neighborhood."

At stake: A proposed four-story apartment complex in the Historic James Street Commons Neighborhood on Burnet Street.

This tree-lined block is dotted with 19th Century townhouses and row homes, near Rutgers-Newark's campus and NJIT. For decades, a five-lot stretch of land has sat empty -- until the city sold the property to a redeveloper in 2016.

"Our desire is to beautify the neighborhood, increase property values," said Calvin Souder, an attorney representing SeaView Capital, which wants to build 24 apartments on the lots.

Souder said they've addressed several residents' concerns, including decreasing the number of units proposed, and changing the materials on the building's facade.

"We've done everything we can to be good neighbors," he said recently.

The tight-knit community says the high-density building "will stick out like a sore thumb" and ruin the block's historic character.

"It's a matter of us not losing our community," Burnet Street resident Tammy Hollaway said. Four generations of her family have lived on the block. "It's dumping a hotel in the middle (of) row homes."

The discord is indicative of a larger question facing the city: How much say will residents have in deciding how their long-blighted city will look amid booming development?

Newark plans to create a city-wide council on inclusionary development that will have representatives of businesses, developers, community organizations and universities.

In November, Newark's Landmarks and Historic Preservation Committee, in an advisory decision, denied the redeveloper's application for the property. Souder said they've appealed.

The project still needs site plan approval from the planning board. In the meantime, residents are keeping up the fight -- one they've fought before.

Chappel and other longtime homeowners struggled to buy the abandoned brownstones back from the city in the 1970s after much of Newark's middle class fled toward the suburbs. They later fought to preserve the area from encroaching development.

"Those who have been here for many generations feel that we kind of set an example of what Newark can and should be and helped dispel pre-conceived notions and prejudice," Chappel said.

"We are part of the reason why developers are interested in the city, you take away the people who add to the culture of the city and it would be a totally different place," Hollaway said. "We understand the economic interest in this but the people are being left out."

Residents said they expressed interest in buying the property but it was sold to a redeveloper instead. Newark is an "area in need of rehabilitation," which, under state statute, allows the city to sell land at $4 per square-foot, and avoid a public auction.

Newark Burnet LLC, managed by SeaView Capital and attorney Josh Mann, purchased the property in Nov. 2016 for $74,000 -- at $8 per square foot. The five contiguous lots were appraised at $160,000 and assessed at $194,600.

The Newark Community Economic Development Corporation helped facilitate the sale and will receive equity payments over five years, which will help the city "realize its assessed value," Souder said. The CEDC is the city's nonprofit redevelopment agency.

The current design includes studios or one- and two-bedroom apartments to be used mostly as student housing. Souder said the design is aligned with the Broad Street Redevelopment Plan, which set parameters for development in the area with input from city stakeholders, businesses, universities and residents.

Residents disagreed, saying the goal of the Broad Street Redevelopment plan was to preserve narrower streets with infill housing -- family homes and townhouses -- while allowing higher-density buildings on the main corridors.

"You can put as many units as you want on the major corridors," James Street Commons Neighborhood Association President Derek Ware said. "Why do you think you have put density on a one- and two-story narrow street?"

Souder contends the five lots combined are too large for infill housing. "That law is very clear on what we can and cannot do," he said.

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.