RANGELEY – A public hearing on a proposed air taxi service to operate at 2640 Main St. begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the town office.

Keith Deschambeault of Livermore has petitioned the Planning Board for a conditional use permit to operate an air taxi/touring business, Acadian Seaplanes LLC, said Bob Griscom, code enforcement officer. The plans include an office and dock at Great Lengths of Rangeley, formerly the American Legion, located across from Stubby’s Market.

Deschambeault proposes to begin his service with one single-engine Air Cessna 180 seaplane once the ice is out in Rangeley Lake or about mid-May, he said Monday.

After finding landing space in the harbor area of Portland, Deschambeault intends to provide air service to and from Portland, bringing folks to sporting camps or vacation destinations. Plane tours of parts of Maine would also be offered, he said.

The air service will be similar to one run by the late Stephen Bean of Rangeley.

A Leeds native, Deschambeault, 29, started flying 10 years ago after taking lessons at the Auburn airport during his senior year in high school. With plans to become a commercial pilot, Deschambeault attended an aeronautical school in Florida, but decided flying to busy airports was not what he wanted.

“I’m an avid outdoorsman and love to fish. I like being out in the woods and fresh air,” he said. For the past couple of years, he worked as a bush pilot flying mail and milk to remote parts of Alaska. He is still employed there and regularly goes back to Ketchikan to fly into rural areas.

“It will be a privilege to do that type of flying here and not have to ship off to Alaska,” he said. Both he and his fiancee, Aimee Larock, were born and raised in Maine and want to work together to establish the business closer to family.

It’s a mere 20-minute commute by plane to Rangeley from his seaplane base at Long Pond in Livermore, he said.