Aided by fiery language, stickers emblazoned “Save our Neighborhoods” and even accordion music, residents of Cambridge’s Riverside neighborhood urged local politicians Wednesday night to support a new zoning plan that would drastically restrict Harvard’s ability to build in the area.

Fifty residents spent nearly three hours testifying before the public hearing of the City Council’s Ordinance Committee, which has been considering two re-zoning plans for the neighborhood: the so-called “Carlson petition,” developed by neighborhood activists in the Riverside Study Committee, and an alternate proposal submitted by the city’s Planning Board.

After the hearing, the Ordinance Committee voted to send both petitions to the council without making a recommendation on either one.

The council must vote on the zoning petitions within 90 days, giving it an expiration date of October 28—a deadline less than a week before city council elections.

Several residents said that the council members’ votes on zoning would crucially impact the candidates’ viability on the ballot.

The Riverside area—home to some of Harvard’s largest and most hated buildings—has a history of opposing Harvard expansion. In 1970, a group of Riverside activists took over Commencement to protest the construction of Peabody Terrace and Mather House.

Several residents emphasized to the city council members that they haven’t forgotten these past disputes.

“The past can’t be undone, but if you let it continue and you let Harvard do to the last piece of the riverfront what they’ve done to the rest of it, there really is no excuse,” said Jessie Wenning.

“You are elected to represent me and I want you to do it,” Wenning added, eliciting loud applause from the assembled residents.

“We have a broad base of community membership,” Lawrence Adkins, president of the Riverside Neighborhood Association, said after the hearing. “I’m sure they’ll be severely disappointed in this city council if they don’t pass the Carlson petition.”

“There are some key city councillors who very much want to get some support out of that neighborhood,” commented Cambridge political pundit Robert Winters. “It’s specially designed to come right up before the election.”

At the meeting, one resident mentioned a rumor circulating through the neighborhood that Harvard would sue the city if the ultimate zoning regulations were too stringent.

A Massachusetts law known as the Dover amendment stipulates that local zoning codes cannot preclude non-profit educational or religious organizations from building to fulfill their institutional purposes, although it does allow for “reasonable regulation” of institutional building.

Winters described the Dover amendment as one of the cards that Harvard holds in the zoning battle.

While the re-zoning would affect development in several parts of the neighborhood, the biggest point of contention has been the parcel of Harvard-owned land on Memorial Drive currently occupied by Mahoney’s Garden Center.