The only issue with removing the <wallConnector> tag would be that if you built the any of the "thin" walls (fences, thin stone and brick walls, mud walls, etc... basically any wall that isn't a "block") beside the stairs the walls might "stop" in the centre of the blocks beside the stairs rather than joining up; however depending on the way they're placed their default position might look connected anyway. The connections are only cosmetic, if there's a wall in that cell it counts as a wall (solid, blocks movement, allows townies to walk on it) regardless of whether it visually connects or not; but if you're worried about the stair rotations then lack of connections is probably just as bad

However, there are some tricks to get around that, and as I said you can use the "default position" of walls to make them look connected (well, technically what happens is that the default graphic for the unconnected wall is the same as the connected one so that a wall standing alone will still look like it crosses the whole width of the block; they originally just formed a "pillar" in the centre of the cell they occupied). Of course you can also use full-block walls, and it's rather unusual to build fences beside stairs, so overall I think that the mod is probably your best short-term option.