Operators were responding to proposals by the Queenstown Lakes District and Otago Regional councils to train the Shotover River to the true-left side of the delta, remove the build-up of crack willow vegetation and extract about one million cubic metres of gravel to lower the bed of the delta to its 1958 level.
Unichem Wilkinsons Pharmacy was inundated by about a metre of water and was flooded for 10 days in 1999.
Owner-manager Kim Wilkinson said staff saved 95% of stock and the pharmacy was able to reopen three weeks after the flood.
However, it took nine months to return to normal operations and the insurance companies now refuse to insure the business against the risk of flooding.
"We were right in the thick of it at the time.
I'm in favour of anything that's going to reduce the possibility of a flood that size.
"If it works out then it's a benefit to all.
It's high time the council got into action."
Mr Wilkinson said metal shelving and counters, and gondolas on wheels, were some of the flood mitigation measures put in place since.
Central Art Gallery owner Julia Milley said the 1999 flood had caused "tens of thousands of dollars" of damage to her business.
"It totally devastated the business. We were closed for weeks and art work was ruined. We couldn't get it off the floor fast enough.
"The water went up to the top of the alleyway [to Shotover St]. No-one in Queenstown could afford for it to happen again.
"I can't get insurance. Insurance companies won't touch us if there's another flood from the lake."
Miss Milley said she would not consider moving her gallery as it had operated from the same location for more than 30 years.
She said she did not think an event as severe as the 1999 flood would happen again but dreaded spring's rainfall and snow-melt every year.
Miss Milley said she was more concerned about the "little things", such as who warned business about the risk of flood, how much warning they got and where you could get sandbags.
Skyline Enterprise Ltd property manager Bob Denison said he could not comment about the Shotover Delta proposal but Skyline had mitigation measures in place to protect its properties - Eichardts Private Hotel, the pier, Wakatipu Arcade, Thomas's Hotel and a vacant site on the corner of Beach and Rees Sts.
Those measures included a 300m A-frame fence made of scaffolding, pallets and plastic sheeting that could be built from Eichardts, around the pier and back to Beach St.
Eichardts general manager Victoria Shaw said flood waters about 1m deep were running through the historic hotel in 1999 and it had cost $5 million to refit the building ahead of its December 2001 reopening.
When it reopened, the hotel had flood mitigation features built in, such as underfloor heating, power points 1m or higher on walls, a bilge pump in the lift shaft and the bulk of the furniture could easily be removed.
"We have a team of people in place to sandbag and wrap special cloth around the building to stop silt," she said.
