Isle of Wight County supervisors have approved expanding a sand borrow pit located near the Franklin Regional Airport.

Curtis Contracting Inc. had requested a conditional use permit to reopen a portion of the reclaimed 31-acre pit located off Airport Drive, and to expand the site by 11 acres.

The original sand mining operation, located across 290 acres, dates to the 1970s. It was initially operated by E. Carson Whitley Enterprises Inc., which later became Whitley-Hawkins Holdings LLC.

According to Smithfield attorney William Riddick III, who represented Curtis at the supervisors’ July 21 meeting, the business does highway construction work in Isle of Wight County.

“They need this material for projects in Isle of Wight County,” Riddick said, referring to the sand that would be extracted from the ground.

According to county officials, hauling the extracted sand away would entail trucks traveling up and down Airport Drive and Carrsville Highway using the same route as when the site operated as Whitley-Hawkins.

No one spoke during a public hearing the supervisors held ahead of the vote. The vote to approve the permit was unanimous.

As conditions of approval, Curtis will be required to either remove two above-ground fuel storage tanks at the site or register them with Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality, and to post a sign on the site’s gate with contact information for arranging access to a family cemetery located near the pit.