But why take the option away? The neighborhood stories may move Sims around that were already in the world, but the "fill empty lots" setting prevented the game from automatically moving "Not in World Sims" and newly generated townies from moving into to empty houses. By a conservative estimate including every pack and new crest, that is approximately 117 empty lots and apartments to alter, every time you start your game, rather than a setting in the options that was able to be selected from the beginning.
@VeeDub, I simply don't have several hours to do "clean-up" just to have some down time and play. I have very limited time as I work 7 days a week and only have a couple of hours to play during that time.
As I said in my other post, I just wish they would stop removing/ or nerfing features that were in the game or came with packs.