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RAYTOWN, Mo. -- This summer is the first for Super Splash USA in Raytown not to be open for business. Now some Raytown residents are disappointed.

“It was just one of those places you could have fun at any age, and with anybody you wanted to go with,” said Raynesha Green a former Super Splash patron.

“It was like the meeting spot for friends when we got out of school,” adds Dontae Manning, another former patron.

“Super Splash was very close, you didn`t have to worry about it getting too crowded, you didn`t have to worry about getting there too late, you didn`t have to worry about getting a chair,” says another former patron, Makayla Green.

In 1988 -- the City of Raytown created Super Splash USA. The 10-acre park includes three swimming pools and a children's area. But this year it's not open.

“The Park Board voted in August of 2016 to close the Super Splash at least for a year, the plan was to work with the board of alderman, the Raytown Board of Alderman, to put a potential issue in front of the voters to increase the park sales tax from one eighth of a percent to three eighths of a percent,” said Raytown Park Board President Terry Copeland.

Copeland says they talked about keeping it open as a smaller community pool versus a full service water park. Super Splash was also only available three months out of the year, where other parks are available all year long.

But those who frequented the park say it was worth it.

“It was cheaper than most water parks,” added Green. “It`s the closest water park to me, the next one would be all the way in Lee`s Summit, and that`s a drive.”

In a little more than a decade, attendance dropped about 60 percent to around 30,000 last summer. The board decided the 50-year-old park would need nearly half-a-million dollars in repairs.

“It`s not a foregone conclusion, Raytown will have a water attraction, we still hope to put it in front of the voters to potentially increase the sales tax that goes to the parks,” Copeland said.