[blueash]

By the time the size of TV reached about 45,000 homes [2013] there were several championship courses, dining at country clubs, dozens of restaurants, pharmacies, big box stores, small specialty stores, gas stations, … either on the premises or on the adjoining streets.
With the next 60,000 homes there have been almost no new championship courses, almost no new stores or restaurants, almost no country clubs for dining.
So to look at the past and claim it is no different is simply not true.
As to what the Morses could do to encourage commercial development there is a very simple idea. Lower the rent for the first five years of the lease. Businesses would get a foothold in the plazas and they'd fill in rapidly. There are more than enough residents south of 44 to support commerce with help from the landowners it will happen more quickly.
Of course that would cut into the profit margin of those landowners for a few years, but an empty storefront makes them nothing. So win/win.

I am amazed that people blame the EPA and permit problems as reasons for the slow progress on commercial development. That same EPA and those same permitting agencies seem to have not slowed development at Trailwinds. The Morses could not be operating in a county that is more friendly to the wishes of developers than is Sumter where it seems that the county commissioners are nearly hand picked by the family.

I think the frustration of the OP is justified and fact based. The Villages has long presented itself as a golf cart community. So if you live south of 44, where do you shop or eat that is golf cart accessible? And it has now been almost 3 years since Fenney opened. Still only the Grill and the food trucks are on site.

And with no town square in any announced plans, it is going to be six plus miles by cart to Brownwood. For all those who say that is close enough and not at all different than previous development plans..
If you live north of 44 I believe that you can never be more than 4 miles from at least one square. And most people are within 5 miles of two of them.

No, the planning and design and building of structures of other than houses has been very different south of 44. Whether you view that difference as a negative is up to you, but to claim it has always been like this is inaccurate.