Long a flooding hazard for nearby homeowners, the Pullman Ditch on the north side of Half Moon Bay could be redesigned as part of a bid to create a new subdivision.
Last week the City Council approved clearances for landowner Mark Stoloski to create four new homes on his two-acre property off Highway 1. Several of Stoloski's neighbors endorsed the project, pointing out it would include an underground pipeline that would supercede Pullman Ditch and conceivably solve the water problems for the entire corridor of homes.
The drainage ditch had been an ongoing problem for neighboring homes because it occasionally floods due to heavy rainfall and a series of undersized pipes. Some nearby residents have taken protective measures into their own hands, building small levies and drains around their homes to repel the floodwater, with the unintended result of sending water to other homes.
Stoloski's proposal would put in larger culverts underground and fill in the embankment that has washed away over years of erosion.
"We're doing this as a good neighbor gesture," Stoloski said to the council. "It's a benefit to the neighborhood to make everything drain right."
The project is an oddity for Half Moon Bay, according to Planning Director Steve Flint. After the meeting he explained that developers generally don't offer this kind of concession to neighbors.
"This (flooding) has been a problem for the city, like forever," Flint said. "I've never seen anyone offer to build infrastructure like this."
Half Moon Bay ended up the target of a lawsuit after trying to clear blockage from the similar Kehoe Ditch to the south, but Flint promised that the renovation of Pullman carried no similar risk for the city. Past biological reports found no traces of endangered species habitat at the ditch, he said. Plus, the project was taking place on private land, so "the city doesn't have a dog in this fight," he said.
In order to move forward, the project needs the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which claims jurisdiction over waterways draining into the ocean. Two neighbors living along the ditch have appealed the federal agency's jurisdiction in the matter. Those appeals would likely be considered by April. If the appeals fail, the project would need a federal permit, said Cameron Johnson, chief of the Regulatory Division of the San Francisco District of the Army Corps.
Johnson pointed out his record for the Pullman Ditch showed more inconsistencies than the city's, including one past instance when a nearby Caltrans project may have found evidence of endangered species. All federal standards would have to be met for any project to redesign the ditch, he said.
One neighbor downstream of the Pullman Ditch expressed concerns that the new pipeline would actually compound the flooding for his home and the California State Parks beach where it empties into the sea.
"If you take a huge pipe and dump it all here, everyone upstream will be happy. But State Parks and I might be worse off," said resident Marc Gradstein. "I don't begrudge these people anything, but I just don't want more flooding."
The Half Moon Bay City Council approved the project with a couple members commending it as a good solution to the flooding.
Tyler Durden posted at 9:46 pm on Thu, Jan 26, 2012.
"...Half Moon Bay ended up the target of a lawsuit after trying to clear blockage from the similar Kehoe Ditch to the south, but [Planning Director] Flint promised that the renovation of Pullman carried no similar risk for the city. Past biological reports found no traces of endangered species habitat at the ditch, he said. Plus, the project was taking place on private land, so "the city doesn't have a dog in this fight," he said..."
Obviously Mr. Flint has not learned a dang thing from his recent major scew-up on the Kehoe Ditch. My sources tell me that past biological reports did in fact find riparian habitat in that area--how could they not? Moreover, just because it is "private land" does not relive the City from its duty to ensure that all projects conform to the regulations that protect riparian corridors. So it turns out that the City does have a "dog in this fight." Amazing lack of caution and understanding from somebody who is paid a ton of money by the City to be the Planning Director. But after all, like all Patridge & Co./Old Guard appointees, he's doing whatever the developers want.