PORTLAND — A Polk County timber manager is seeking an injunction to bar every Oregon county from enforcing Measure 37 until the Oregon Supreme Court can rule on its legality.

Sarah Deumling, who owns timber and manages timber properties for Zena Timber, contends that plans to subdivide adjacent properties will damage the value of the lands she manages.

“It is hard to practice industrial forestry among residential subdivisions,” said Sid Friedman of 1000 Friends of Oregon, a land use advocacy group that is not a party to the legal action but which opposes Measure 37.

Measure 37, approved by voters last year, allows land owners whose property values were harmed by land use laws after they bought it to get those laws waived or to be paid for the loss in value.

It was a reaction to some of the toughest zoning laws in the nation.

Most Measure 37 claims apply just to land owned by the claimant. This one brings into play use of neighboring land.

On Oct. 14, Marion County Judge Mary James ruled that the measure violates provisions of the state and federal constitutions and declared it void in the four counties — Washington, Jackson, Clackamas, Marion — that were party to a lawsuit challenging it.

The measure’s status in the remaining 32 counties is cloudy, and some counties, including Polk, have continued processing Measure 37 claims.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, seeks to apply James’ ruling to the other 32 counties for the same reasons James found it invalid.

Each of the 28 plaintiffs named in the lawsuit owns land near a Measure 37 claimant and contends that the value of their own property will diminish if waivers are given in place of compensation and the claimants use their land without restriction.

A separate filing seeks a temporary restraining order against Polk County’s waiving regulations on land that could affect Deumling.

“If there are subdivisions on two sides of timberland, with houses, a lot of issues come into play,” Deumling said in a Tuesday telephone interview.

“It becomes a super liability issue, from marijuana plantations to forest fires,” she said. “It becomes a park for a subdivision that does not really belong to them.”

She said it would be hard to sell the property as forest land with subdivisions on two sides of it.

The Oregon Supreme Court has expedited the matter and is to hear oral arguments in December. A decision is expected by spring.

“These claims have a devastating effect on me and other neighboring property landowners, Deumling said in a statement. “Polk County should stop spending taxpayer money approving claims and let the legal process run its course.”

Meanwhile, 1000 Friends of Oregon is working on its own initiative for the November, 2006, election to create what it calls a homeowner and farmer bill of rights.

“Measure 37 was about fairness,” said Elon Hasson, government affairs director for 1000 Friends. “If somebody wants to build a house, we don’t want to stop that.”

The initiative would give landowners the right to build a house on property they owned before laws were imposed restricting that right. It also would control aspects of Measure 37 that do not protect the rights of neighboring landowners.

Ross Day, director of legal affairs for Oregonians in Action, which created Measure 37, said the 1000 Friends initiative would not help landowners.

“If this were written by 1000 Friends, they will do everything but adhere to the will of the voters,” said Day. “It’s trying to repeal measure 37 — that’s what this one does.”