You could smell it before you even saw it on Monday, the fresh wooden mulch that had just been put down in the play area at Charles Park in Oceanport.

The new chips are part of ongoing maintenance of borough parks, according to Councilman Joseph Irace.

He said in an e-mail, "The Parks and Recreation committee, under the liaison of Jerry Bertekap, Recreation Coordinator Joanne Hunt and chaired by Mike Minervini with the Oceanport Public Works Department, maintain a schedule for necessary maintenance."

The group got wind of the existing thin layer of mulch at Charles Park from a resident through Facebook, said Irace, and Bertkap took the request to public works.

He added, "As part of our plan, we hope to replace all the mulch with the new long lasting material that you see in some of the other areas in town."