All good, I understand how you feel and when it comes to developers I agree 100%.
There is one misconception in your post for the benefit of others.
Developers and developers only buy up land, address zoning, install sewers and pave roads.
Developers then sell or contract with a builder.
Most builders have nothing to do with pushing people off their land. I agree with you on the .25 area lots but that is the fault of your county zoning commission AND MY county zoning commission, its really the people who vote these people on the boards that make those zoning decisions. So if you think about it, if a developer can get away with it, is it really his fault that its allowed, I mean, this is America and we are here to make money and at the current time help the housing crunch with affordable housing.
So anyway, we have the zoning board that sets the zoning and the developers will take advantage of whatever the zoning board will allow, after all they want to make as much money as possible.
The builder doesn't really decide much of anything except if he wants to build on the developers land.
The HOA doesn't exist and doesn't make any of the above decisions and once the property starts getting developed by the developers for the builders to come in HOA documents will be written by the developer/builders governing the community as far as rules and regulations that purchasers will have to adhere too.
Once the HOA documents are written there is no HOA board until a community is finished and control turned over to the community residents until that time, the builder is the board and has the one and only sole voice and control over the HOA documents, the builder normally hires a property management company to govern the community according to the HOA documents written by the builder/developer or developers.