SAINT MICHAELS, MD - A Virginia-based seaplane company wants to expand its charter services to the Miles River in Saint Michaels.
The proposed sealane, essentially a runway on the water, would be over one mile long and half a mile wide to allow safe takeoffs and landings.
Coastal Seaplanes opened in 2024 as the first commercial seaplane charter operating on the Chesapeake Bay. Founder and CEO Sam Riggs presented the company’s objectives in Saint Michaels before the town's Waterway Management Advisory Board on Tuesday.
Community members shared concerns about safety, harbor congestion and noise disruptions during the meeting.
Doug Valente, a part-time resident, echoed this sentiment.
"I don't want to see that happen,” Valente said. “I just feel like the possibility is there that it would disrupt some things."
Seaplanes are amphibious aircraft. Coastal Seaplanes operates charters from major northeastern airports to destinations such as Norfolk and Cape Charles, Virginia.
Riggs told WBOC on Friday that he began pursuing a commercial base in Saint Michaels after customers expressed interest in utilizing charters there.
“We're not here to just plop down this massive burden on these towns and use up their resources,” Riggs said. “We're here to be an asset that they can lean on, part of the community in a way that seaplanes, honestly, were for a long time on the Chesapeake Bay."
Jon Clarke, owner and president of the Higgins Yacht Yard in Saint Michaels, attended the meeting on Tuesday.
“Logistically, we couldn't figure out how it would work for Saint Michaels," Clarke said. "We have a lot of boats that come in throughout the weekends … it's not going to be good if it gets restricted for them to use their boats."
According to Riggs, Coastal Seaplanes has approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate on the Miles River but is awaiting a license from the Maryland Aviation Administration.
During the coming summer season, Riggs told WBOC that the company has suspended operations in the harbor for the time being and will likely operate from the Miles River with a boat transfer.
"We maintain as a company that if we cannot become an asset to a community, truly an asset to a community, we really have no place there,” Riggs said. “We're not trying to put a square peg in a round hole."
