Jan. 18 update: Vancouver City Council has voted to grant Stanley Park Brewing Co. a liquor licence for its tasting room and patio for its new location at 8901 Stanley Park Drive.

Original story follows:

A group of concerned residents say a brew pub set to open in Stanley Park later this year will ruin the park's atmosphere and harm local wildlife if the City of Vancouver grants the business a liquor licence.

"There'll be more people…spilling out into the park, right underneath the heron colony and also the residences that are there, so the noise in the evening is a totally new experience for the herons," said Maria Morlin, who lives near the park and speaks for Stanley Park Advocates.

The group claims the park board allowed Stanley Park Brewing to open a location in the green space without considering all the consequences.

"This was done without any public consultation, and without commissioning any studies on traffic, noise, or the environment, despite the fact that the blue herons, which are a protected species have their colony not 30 metres away...and there are seven residential towers within close proximity," the group said in a Change.org petition against the new brew pub.

As of Monday evening, the petition had more than 1,100 signatures.

But experts say there's no evidence to suggest the new pub would harm the park's heron colony.

"I don't know that any biologists know for sure why herons come and go," said Patricia Thomson of the Stanley Park Ecology Society. "We know that there was extra pressure with bald eagles preying on this colony site this last year."

The brewing company is in the process of renovating and moving into 8901 Stanley Park Drive, the heritage building which housed The Fish House restaurant between 1990 and 2015.

According to documents from the park board, the renovated space will feature an 82-seat tasting room, a 68-seat outdoor deck and a 40-seat patio area.

Some small batch brewing will be done at the site. Most of the Stanley Park brand beers will still be brewed at the company's current location in Delta.

Stanley Park Brewing already has a license to sell alcohol. On Wednesday, city council is expected to vote on an additional licence which would allow the brewery to serve alcohol in the tasting room and patio planned for the new site.

In the meantime, the Stanley Park Advocates group has also posted a video on social media suggesting the brewing process is "toxic" and that the business will increase public drinking while commercializing the park.

"We'll be trying to persuade council to rethink putting a pub with a liquor licence in the park and maintaining it as a restaurant, more or less the way it was before."

City staff, on the other hand, are suggesting council grant the liquor licence with a six-month probationary period during which the business would have shorter opening hours, arguing in a report that the site is "the ideal location to establish a home for Stanley Park Brewing Co. to tell its story, animate an important area of the park (and) offer a unique dining and beer tasting."

The existing liquor license attached to the space will continue as it has in the past with Stanley Park Brewing touting a "family-friendly" experience when the new location opens its doors

Many park-goers say the prospect of enjoying a Stanley Park beer in the green space the drink was named after is an exciting one.

"I'm actually looking forward to sitting on the deck and having a beer," said one passerby.

"This is a great spot to get a little brewery going," said another.

Stanley Park Brewing is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer.

Local entrepreneurs launched Stanley Park Brewing in 2009 so it has no connection to the historic brewery that operated in the park in the late 1800s. It was bought out by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer in 2015 but most of the original employees have stayed on and continue to run the sub-brand.

"Most of us are still on board," said general manager Brian Khun.

The park board had sent a public request for proposal in 2015 when the Fish House ceased operation but despite more than a dozen initial applications, no one was willing to sign a deal to operate the space.

Park board staff then had to find a tenant for the vacant heritage building, appealing directly to Stanley Park Brewing. Park board commissioners agreed to the deal in November 2016.

"We have a passion for the park," insists Khun. "We care about what the community thinks and want to be a good neighbour."

With files from CTV Vancouver's Penny Daflos