Moving Kowhai Park and nearly 100 flood-prone homes from Whanganui's Anzac Parade was not a realistic option, but the area does need better protection, says a resident whose home was flooded in the June 2015 flood.
Steve Baron was responding to a Horizon's Regional Council news item last week in which Horizons river manager Ramon Strong said surrendering the land was one of several options being looked at.
Horizons are canvassing community views on how best to protect the city's flood-prone areas and held the second of two public meetings on Monday night at Whanganui Girls' College.
Horizons expect flood events will become increasingly severe as climate change disrupts weather patterns.
Mr Baron said the Whanganui East stopbanks were "woefully inadequate" with a rated protection of one in 30 years.
"The current level of protection is negligible and large flood events are very likely to happen again," Mr Baron said.
"To me it's a no brainer. We need a reasonable level of protection and we should be guided by the experts as to what that is," he said.
Mr Baron said the cost of cleaning up Kowhai Park from the June 2015 flood had reached $361,000 - although some of that was covered by insurance.
Larger stopbanks, rated to either one in 100 years, or one in 200 years, seemed the likely answer, he said. One hundred year protection would raise stopbanks by about one metre and 200 year protection by 1.5 metres.
"One metre would have protected Anzac Parade from the last flood, but that may not be sufficient with storms becoming more severe."
Relocating Kowhai Park was extreme and too expensive, Mr Baron said.
"Surrendering the land is not economically viable - it's pie in the sky - in reality it would not be practical."
"There's still a major arterial route and the cost of raising the road would be prohibitive."
He was also concerned about the design of a bridge spanning the Matarawa Stream which he believed would require upgrading.
"Upstream from the bridge is the weak part of the system, and this bridge acts as a dam forcing the water higher. We probably need a new bridge."
Whanganui East is one of three vulnerable parts of the city which also includes the river end of the central business district and Balgownie through to the North Mole.
Balgownie already has the highest level of protection in place with 200-year stopbanks "as does most of Palmerston North."
Horizons said feedback from Whanganui would be taken into consideration and any recommendations that are adopted by the Horizons council will go into its 2018 - 2028 long term plan.