A church community stands divided in Brickell over a vote that could forever change the landscape of its waterfront property.

A First Miami Presbyterian Church member, Scott Shuffield, wrote a letter on Wednesday to the administration and some members strongly opposing the church’s plans to sell two acres of the property at 609 Brickell Ave., according to an email shared with the Miami Herald by a current church member. Shuffield confirmed that he wrote the email.

In the note, Shuffield offered reasons for opposing the deal and urged other members to vote against the sale.

The church has scheduled a vote over Zoom on Sunday after midday services. Members will decide whether the church should sell its surface parking lot, the building housing an elementary and middle school, Key Point Christian Academy, and fellowship hall to the Brickell-based real estate firm 13th Floor Investments. The developer proposed replacing the lot and building with a high-rise residential tower on the waterfront.

“This property is a talent that needs to be dug up and see a return on investment. That’s biblical,” said Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek, a leader of the church.

The church would gain $240 million from the sale in cash and value, according to a presentation slide shared with the Herald. The church would immediately receive $48 million in cash and later about 90,000 square feet of space in the new building, 148 parking spaces, a small park and 15% of condo sales estimated at $125 million, as well as a percentage of sales of a restaurant on the ground floor of the project.

Benek said the contract and proposal terms could be negotiated at a later date if members vote to move forward with the sale on Sunday.

Designated historic in 2003, the church building would remain.

“I’ve received many positive emails and agreements that people are against the proposal,” Shuffield told the Herald.

He declined to comment how many of the 150 church members he reached out to and how many of them have expressed their opposition to the plan.

“I think this is a family matter that the church needs to discern how they will move forward with this proposal to best serve the best redemptive purposes of Jesus in the world,” Benek said. “It is inappropriate for there to be a conversation with the media. It is a conversation for the members to have in the church about how to best serve the community in Christ.”

In his email, Shuffield said he had a number of reasons for opposing the plan.

First, he said, the church “does not currently have an elected Session,” meaning a governing body. Its last Session was disbanded after the church received a $7.1 million tax bill in 2018 from the county for leasing a portion of its church ground for a for-profit school and food trucks.

Shuffield also wrote that members received insufficient information about the project, other avenues to raise money and inadequate advance notice of the vote — church bylaws require three weeks, not the two weeks provided. And he argued that the church should be focused instead on growing its membership since numbers have declined.

Another member said she also wants more time to consider the plan.

“This might be a wonderful proposal, but how could anyone know that? It was unveiled with a few days notice at a Zoom meeting and there have been no materials circulated, no outreach to the church’s neighbors, no Q&A’s, no way to evaluate it,” Amy Shipley said by email. “A deal of this magnitude should be carefully considered, not rushed.”

Outside of the church community, a handful of locals in Brickell told the Miami Herald on Tuesday that they outright oppose the plan, cherishing the outdoor waterfront space.