The regional district will hold a public hearing in Masset July 19 on an application to change the zoning on a private lot on North Beach, within Naikoon Provincial Park. The 41-acre lot, located about two kilometres east of Tow Hill, is currently designated for agriculture or forestry use, but the owners have applied for a "tourist accommodation" designation. Regional district directors gave first reading to a zoning bylaw at their meeting in Prince Rupert Friday (June 22). According to the rezoning application form, the owners would like to build a small eco-lodge with guest cabins and camping. The beach-front lot has no road access, no water supply, no sewage disposal service and no hydro. The owners say they will supply treated well water, and dispose of sewage with a septic field and by using self-contained compositing toilets. The owners were planning to start work this summer and finish the project over the next five years. "This property is ideally situated to give people the experience of staying on the beach, storm watching, surfing, kayaking, beach combing and other minimum impact activities," the owners wrote in the application. "It is the only private property in the park able to offer easy access to accommodation on the beach that many people come to see. May also serve as a focus stop for much of the local traffic that is year round."