St. John’s councilors are swooning over a proposed affordable housing development along Blackmarsh Road.

The project would include three, 12-metre-high apartment buildings with a total of 45 units directly across from the Canada Drive intersection.

It would also require rezoning from ‘rural residential’ to ‘apartment 1’ for a cluster development.

The plan received resounding approval from councilors during yesterday’s committee of the whole meeting, and now moves to a regular public council meeting for conditional approval and public consultation.

Councillor Ron Ellsworth said the project would have been impossible for the developer without funding from NLHC’s Affordable Rental Housing Program.

“It’s very cost-prohibitive,” he said. “So this initiative in partnership with the housing corp. and this developer really focuses on the part of the market that really needs us most, which is the lower income, the moderate income families who are really struggling to meet the demands of current rent.”