Common Sense Bainbridge has closed up shop, and property rights advocate Gary Tripp announced Monday that a new nonprofit group will take over the fight against the city of Bainbridge Island’s controversial Shoreline Master Program.

Tripp, the leader of the Bainbridge-based nonprofit property rights group Bainbridge Defense Fund, has been a consistent opponent of the city’s Shoreline Master Program, a state-mandated plan that restricts development along shorelines while protecting wildlife habitat and public access.

The city’s updated plan received final approval by the state Department of Ecology earlier this year, and Tripp said in July his group would file a lawsuit to challenge the new regulations.

This week, however, Tripp said in an email to his supporters he was stepping aside.

“For many months my foundation has been the voice of many issues affecting our quality of life on Bainbridge,” Tripp wrote in his Sept. 15 email. “The single biggest issue is the new SMP recently passed by city council and the adverse affect it has on those living on the water.”

He said a new nonprofit called Preserve Rational Shoreline Management, made up of representatives from 17 waterfront communities on Bainbridge, has been formed to take on the fight over the SMP.

“It is their belief, and mine, that many constitutional and public process issues have been violated and the city must be held accountable for passing bad legislation,” Tripp continued. “The city must also be forced to pragmatically address the biggest pollution problem which is stormwater runoff and associated pollutants mainly from cars and trucks. Attempting to control pollution of Puget Sound by holding only shoreline homeowners hostage defies common sense and science.”

Tripp said the new group would soon send out a fundraising letter, and he also noted that attorneys representing those opposed to the new shoreline plan would challenge the SMP with an appeal to the Growth Management Hearings Board.

The board, set up by the Legislature, reviews disputes to land-use laws made under the Growth Management Act and the Shoreline Management Act.

“Dick Stephens of Groen Stephens & Klinge is preparing the appeal to the Growth Management Hearings Board and is on track for filing prior to the Oct. 8 deadline,” Tripp said in his email this week.

Tripp was not immediately available to comment Monday.

In an email to supporters early last month, Tripp said the Bainbridge Defense Fund and a new nonprofit that he would direct, called Save Our Family Homes, would both file lawsuits against the city and the Department of Ecology. He estimated the cost of the lawsuit would hit $200,000, and he asked property owners to donate 10 percent of their property tax bills to the legal fight.

In his email this week, he said that all of the money raised by the group Save Our Family Homes would support Preserve Rational Shoreline Management and the lawsuit.

Tripp also announced that Preserve Rational Shoreline Management will be led by Dick Haugan, who unsuccessfully ran for the city council last year and campaigned against the new SMP.

“We are transitioning to a new and very capable leadership team which will manage the SMP lawsuit from here on,” Tripp wrote.

Haugan will be the managing member of the new group, while David Marsing will serve as secretary and Peter Yoakum as treasurer.

According to records on file with the Public Disclosure Commission, Tripp is also disbanding the political action group he formed before last year’s city council elections.

That PAC, called Common Sense Bainbridge, threw its support behind a slate of candidates who were critical of the city’s SMP. One of those candidates, Haugen, vowed to “kill” the SMP if elected.

Common Sense Bainbridge filed a final report with the Public Disclosure Commission, the agency that serves as a watchdog on money in political campaigns, on Sept. 6.

In its final report, Common Sense Bainbridge said the committee was being closed and the balance on the group’s account — $3,192.60 — was donated to Bainbridge Waterfront Defense. The donation was made Aug. 1.