Residents press Half Moon Bay for design funding to fix worsening Pullman ditch flooding

A string of residents from the Myiar and Pullman neighborhoods told the city council that repeated flooding and erosion along the Pullman watercourse have reached emergency levels and that the city should prioritize design and funding work to stabilize the ditch.

"We have got to get a design in place to allow us, the homeowners, to go out and find funding with the city's approval so that we can put this situation to bed," said Brent Simmons, a homeowner on Pullman, describing erosion that increased the ditch depth from about three feet to six feet over several years.

John Rossi and other neighborhood residents recounted multiple flooding events — Rossi said he recorded nine flooding events at his property since moving there five years ago and urged the council to endorse bypass design and cost estimation to enable community fundraising and grant applications. Several commenters asked the city to treat the Pullman work as urgent rather than waiting for a comprehensive, citywide stormwater master plan.

City engineering staff and council members discussed two parallel approaches: (1) immediately scoping focused projects for known trouble spots (Pullman and Kho) so short-term erosion and flooding risks can be addressed, and (2) developing a broader watershed/stormwater management plan to prioritize long-term solutions, improve FEMA mapping and make projects more competitive for grants. Interim city engineer staff estimated an initial master-plan budget in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars for modeling and project identification, but council members emphasized the need to pursue targeted fixes now.

What's next: Council directed staff to include focused stormwater projects (Pullman and Kho) in the draft work plan and to scope a stormwater/watershed plan so the city can pursue grant funding and coordinated longer-term approaches. Residents asked that staff return with design cost estimates and an implementation timeline to enable homeowner-led fundraising and grant applications.