IRVINE

Irvine has gained 4.2 acres of protected riverbank habitat north of Irvine Center Drive, creating a wildlife corridor that will link San Diego Creek with Serrano Creek at Bake Parkway.

The Planning Commission voted Thursday to increase the city’s restored habitat to a total of 57.6 acres under the conservation and open-space master plan.

The original plan, approved in October 1997, called for the restoration of 51.6 acres. Last year, the city amended the plan to include more wetland area for a total of 53.4 acres.

Now city officials have included a larger riparian, or riverbank, habitat in the northern part of the city because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently recognized the habitat as protected.

Preserved habitat has been increased by 1.6 acres, while another 3.4 acres of protected wetlands will be created north of Irvine Center Drive along Serrano Creek. But four-fifths of an acre of habitat south of Irvine Center Drive, considered to be “less sensitive,” no longer will be protected under the plan.