Supermarket heiress to leave Falmouth amid money woes

FALMOUTH – It’s not clear exactly where or when she’s going, but the widow of Shaw’s Supermarket heir who inherited a fortune in prime real estate when her husband died in 1996 is moving amid financial troubles.

Mary Alice Davis became known for her high-profile battles with the town and her neighbors over plans to develop acres of open fields and forest.

Davis agreed to sell her two estates and nearby land for $4.5 million to settle more than $2 million debt she owes Portland businessman Eric Cianchette.

Cianchette’s company, Shore Woods Inc., bought out Davis’ defaulted loans and now owns her property. He has not revealed plans for the properties, but neighbors hope he will preserve it.

Davis has been vague about her plans, but she continues to blame her financial troubles on the town and says that she will have no money by the time she pays all her bills.

Regardless of whether Davis moves from Falmouth, she may leave the upscale Portland suburb a property rights ordinance that would require landowners be compensated for any loss of land value because of zoning or land-use regulations.

The ordinance comes before voters Tuesday.

While Davis says the ordinance would protect residents’ constitutional rights, opponents say the ordinance is unconstitutional and would make the town fearful of enacting land-use regulations to protect the quality of neighborhood land. state law.

It is unclear how much support the ordinance, which is based on a Florida state law, enjoys among the town’s nearly 8,700 registered voters.

Davis was working as a cosmetologist in 1991 in Arizona when she met Howard Davis, the son of H. Halsey Davis. The couple married in 1992. Howard Davis died four years later.