Some East Boston residents and leaders are calling for a halt to new development in the neighborhood until the city can come up with a plan to better regulate it. Such a stoppage, though, could worsen Boston’s housing crunch.

The locals are concerned that the pace of projects—and the likelihood of a massive redevelopment of the old Suffolk Downs racetrack, perhaps with Amazon’s second headquarters included—will overwhelm East Boston residents already there.

Worries are so pronounced that some Eastie residents are comparing what’s happening to what happened in South Boston with the Seaport District: The rapid development of a neighborhood within a neighborhood, one largely for affluent newcomers.

Residents are feeling the effects of development in myriad ways, from crowded Blue Line trains to trees sliced up in backyards to make room for more condos. Historic buildings in Maverick Square and triple-deckers throughout the neighborhood have also been demolished in the pursuit of fresh construction, the Globe’s Milton J. Valencia reports.

Suffolk Downs’ redevelopment might prove an irreversible tipping point. If Amazon doesn’t pick Boston for its new HQ, the 163-acre racetrack could end up hosting another 10,000 units, a large proportion of them in Eastie.

What’s more, climate change and population growth are exacerbating the effects of such development, according to those concerned about it. Parts of East Boston—and the neighborhood’s older buildings—flood during heavy rains. And its population increased 17 percent from 2000 to 2015, compared with a 10 percent increase for Boston overall.

As for the concerns, the city hears them in part. It is working on a plan to retrofit older buildings to better combat flooding and to require newer construction to prepare for such eventualities.

There is no plan pending, however, to stop new development. Such a move, of course, would itself exacerbate the city’s larger lack of both market-rate and subsidized housing—a shortfall that continues to drive up prices and rents, in Eastie and elsewhere.