Riverdale residents say there is a smell of manure in the air at the Van Cortlandt ball fields and it is stinking up the neighborhood.

The parks department says the smell is not of manure, but from leaf compost combined with soil to make a foundation for a new park. They say it is part of the city?s commitment to sustainability.

The city says the fields will eventually be topped with a layer of sod and the smell will be gone. In the meantime, the Parks Department says they expect the smell to linger in the neighborhood for about a month.