The City of Merritt has been cleaning up the former rest stop off the Coquihalla, and now has provincial funding to cover those costs.

The rest stop has been closed for three years, but Merritt mayor Linda Brown says travellers have still been using it for bathroom breaks. She says it’s a health hazard, and the city has had to hire a contractor to deal with the waste.

“It is provincial land. But it certainly became our responsibility, and we’ve had to pay to have it cleaned up… So we really had to do something to clean it up, not that it was our mess, but it became our responsibility.”

Brown says the B.C. government has now committed money the city as reimbursement for cleanup costs. She says the city had asked for that while speaking with Premier John Horgan at the Union of B.C. Municipalities.

“He jumped in right away and said ‘send us your bills.’ So we now have an agreement that says we’ve got up to $30,000 dollars. And it will cover all of our past expenses, and it’ll give us one more cleanup before March 31st.”

The Crown land will be transferred to five area Indigenous bands on March 31. Those are the Lower Nicola Indian Band, Upper Nicola Band, Coldwater Indian Band, Shackan Indian Band and Nooaitch Indian Band.

The 25-acre piece of land will be redeveloped into a new tourist travel stop, with a gas bar, restaurants and other amenities. It will also have an Indigenous cultural facility as well, and the bands plan to invest $40 million into the property.