JERSEY CITY — Two high-rise residential buildings with a total of 413 units planned for a block near Hudson County’s courthouse have become the latest rallying cry for longtime residents unhappy about the scale of real-estate development in the area.

The two projects — 32 Oakland Ave. and 345 Baldwin Ave. — would sit at either end of a block that runs along Washburn Street, about a quarter-mile east of the Journal Square PATH transit hub. The building at 32 Oakland would rise 15 stories and include 297 units, while 345 Baldwin would have 13 stories and 116 units. There would be a total of 202 parking spaces.

The block they would call home includes a four-story apartment building, two three-story homes and four two-story houses. Two two-family homes on Washburn Street owned by the same owner would be sandwiched in between the new buildings.

“He’ll never see daylight,” said one person familiar with the plans.

The proposals are up for city approval as the residential neighborhoods around Journal Square become higher and denser. A project on the other side of Baldwin Avenue would include 45 units in six stories. A half-mile south, nearly 1,000 units are planned for four buildings on the former site of a pasta factory. And other, smaller-scale projects are popping up side-by-side with two- and three-story homes, leading to criticism from residents that their homes are getting overshadowed by towers and that the influx of many more new residents will aggravate existing parking and traffic problems.

A rendering of a 15-story residential building planned for 32 Oakland Ave. in Jersey City.unknown

Laura Moss, a photographer who lives one block south of the Oakland and Baldwin projects, said it makes sense to add residential housing to the area but the two plans in question are “a little extreme.”

"It's not that we're not pro-development but it's too much,” Moss said. “Yeah, we want something there, but five stories, six stories. That's already a lot of density."

Ritesh Shah lives at 52 Washburn St. with his parents, who own both homes that would sit in between the new developments. Shah agreed with Moss that development may be fine, but both projects are too large.

“It doesn’t seem like the city is actually listening to the people in the area," he said.

A request for comment from the developers' attorneys was not returned. A Denville LLC is behind the Oakland project. One tied to Diego Hodara of Titanium Realty Group is behind the one on Baldwin.

The Jersey City Planning Board is scheduled to give the Baldwin project its approval on Tuesday. A hearing on the Oakland project is scheduled for January.

Councilman Rich Boggiano, who represents the area and lives nearby, is opposed to the size of both plans. Boggiano has said he wants large-scale development in Journal Square proper and much smaller buildings in the surrounding neighborhoods.

“Scale it down to half the size,” he said.

The Planning Board meets Tuesday starting at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.