The Cambridge City Council voiced unanimous support for a moratorium on development in the Cambridge Riverside neighborhood, potentially delaying Harvard's plans for an art museum on the Charles River.

At an ordinance committee meeting Wednesday night, Cambridge residents spoke in favor of the Loose Moratorium--authored by Cambridge resident Jack P. Loose--which proposes halting all development on the southern edge of the campus for 18 months.

"This area is under a tremendous amount of development pressure," said Cambridge resident Phyllis Baumann of the land bordered by Memorial Drive, DeWolfe Street, Mt. Auburn Street, Putnam Avenue and River Street. "We need some breathing space to figure out what is happening in this area."

Baumann said the moratorium was not directed towards Harvard's proposal for a modern art museum at the current site of the Mahoney's Garden Center on Memorial Drive, but was intended instead to allow the neighborhood to evaluate what they want in the entire area.

"At the end of the moratorium, we may decide that a museum is exactly what we need," Baumann said. "But we don't want to be bulldozed into a decision that will be irreversible."

Some residents said issues such as traffic and ecological impacts from continued development in the area have to be studied before future plans are made.

"Everyone knows that traffic is unbearable in this neighborhood," said resident John O'Connor.

And almost all residents at the meeting said that continued open access to the Charles River is one of their main concerns with Harvard building in Riverside.