ENFIELD – About 1 1/2 years after a fire forced its closure and the layoff of as many as 50 workers, Cold Stream Lumber Co. has new ownership and plans to go back into operation this spring, Town Manager Theresa Thurlow said Friday.

Cold Stream Lumber Co. plans to restart its planer mill operations, which employ about eight workers, by late spring. Lumber shipping by railroad should commence by late summer, Thurlow said.

“It means quite a lot to us,” Thurlow said. “Any time you have a business reopening or expanding, it’s wonderful news for us … I am sure they hope to expand depending on the lumber and housing industry and how that goes.”

The company’s new owners also own Pleasant River Lumber Co., a Dover-Foxcroft-based spruce mill that had announced plans in July 2005 to open a $17 million operation employing 70 people full time on 250 acres of Pine Tree Zone-designated land off U.S. Route 2. Slackening market conditions led to repeated postponement of those plans.

Jason Brochu, one of Pleasant River’s owners, declined to comment Thursday on the company’s plans.

The Board of Selectmen voted 2-0 on Monday to agree to hold a public hearing on whether to move the Pine Tree designation to Cold Stream’s property at 542 Hammett Road. No date has been set, Thurlow said, although she said it is likely the hearing will occur at a board meeting early next month.

The April 29, 2006, fire did an estimated $2 million in damage when it destroyed the company’s sawmill and some office space at 542 Hammett Road. Neighbors reported hearing loud explosions, possibly propane torches or other flammables, detonating in the heat. Firefighters from four towns stopped the fire before it hit adjoining buildings containing wood planing equipment and a kiln.

The fire remains under investigation, officials from the State Fire Marshal’s Office said Friday.

Town officials hope Pleasant River’s involvement with Cold Stream will lead to greater growth with both operations. When Pleasant River announced its $17 million plan, Gov. John Baldacci, the Brochu family and officials from the adjoining Ridgewood Renewable Power LLC property said the mill would help create as many as 350 new jobs and would be completed by fall 2006.

It was thought its impact would help create four to five more jobs in support of industries and local businesses for every person employed.

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