Hannaford Supermarket is coming to Route 101 and residents’ opinions are split.

Michael Hunter, of the concerned-citizens group Save Our Town, said the store’s final approval sets a bad precedent for Route 101 development.

“Our group is disappointed in the planning board,” he said.

“What this does show is that the Bedford Master Plan can be changed by the planning board. It shows that any business with enough money can come in.”

On Nov. 6, the planning board voted 8-1 to allow a 36,000-square-foot market at the intersection of Jenkins Road and Route 101.

Deb Sklar, the planning board member who voted against approval, said she studied the town master plan and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation’s Route 101 Corridor Study in preparing to make a decision.

“They’re supposed to be the defining documents about where the town wants to go,” she said.

She said the studies wouldn’t support construction of the supermarket.

“I didn’t believe, after reading all these documents and after hearing the testimonies, that Hannaford would fit in,” she said.

Paul Drahnak, who recently stepped down as planning board chairman, said he didn’t know why the store had become an issue.

“Honestly, I have to tell you, I have been completely mystified about what the issue was on that piece of property,” he said.

The two lots along Route 101 were zoned for commercial use about 40 years ago, so it shouldn’t have been any surprise to abutters that they would be living next to a supermarket, he said. Those residents should take responsibility for not knowing, he said.

“And, I just don’t view a 36,000-foot grocery store as a huge commercial behemoth in somebody’s backyard,” he said. Most abutters’ houses were built after the land was zoned commercial, he said.

“The decision at the meeting was just business as usual,” Drahnak said.

Resident Peg Murphy said she is disappointed with the planning board’s decision. She has lived on Jenkins Road for 23 years and raised her family there.

“It’s just unfortunate that our board is able to make unpopular decisions,” she said. “It’s too bad the people’s voices didn’t matter.”

Murphy said she will boycott the store.

Jack Sullivan, an abutter of the Stop & Shop Supermarket on Kilton Road, said he hasn’t had any problems with that store.

“When the board put in the Stop & Shop, we had the same issues that I heard, and it’s worked out well for the truck traffic -- how you limited it -- and it’s worked out well with the dumpster,” he said at the Nov. 6 planning board meeting. “At the Stop & Shop site, as an abutter, it’s worked out fine.”

Town Planner Karen White said her office hasn’t received any negative feedback since final approval was given. Management at Harvest Market couldn’t be reached for comment.