Maui County’s Planning Department is a backlogged mess, with West Maui resorts waiting for several months to obtain permits for much-needed repairs.

It’s very hard to get anything accomplished, even for emergency work.

Housing is similarly stalled.

According to the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, “Housing prices in Hawaii are through the roof. Demand outpaces supply, and many local families are saying ‘Aloha’ to Hawaii simply because they cannot afford to live here.”

So, what can state and county lawmakers do to address this crisis?

M. Nolan Gray, a former city planner in New York City who now leads a “Yes In My Backyard” advocacy group in California, thinks a good first step would be to abolish zoning laws.

He will talk in depth about this provocative proposal at a Maui event sponsored by the institute on Thursday, Feb. 16, at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Admission is $10 and includes parking and lunch.

Joe Kent, a former teacher at King Kamehameha III Elementary School in Lahaina, will moderate the event, which will include a Q&A session.

Kent now serves as executive vice president of the Grassroot Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational institution devoted to promoting individual liberty, economic freedom and limited, accountable government. Its goal is to improve the quality of life in Hawaii by lowering the cost of living and expanding opportunities for all.

Gray, who also is a Ph.D. candidate in urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote about zoning codes and housing shortages in his new book, “Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It.”

He believes zoning codes go beyond general city planning, and that micro-managing real estate has served to limit housing supply and make America’s metropolitan areas unaffordable for most residents. In addition, he said, zoning laws have contributed to greater urban sprawl and pollution.

Gray’s ideas are not as extreme as they might sound. The idea of significantly reforming zoning laws has caught on nationwide.

In Congress, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii — as chairman of the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee — recently led a successful effort to fund a new $85 million grant program aimed at zoning reform.

Echoing recommendations made by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Schatz’s measure seeks to increase housing density; reduce minimum lot size; streamline or shorten permitting processes and timelines; expand by-right multifamily zoned areas; allow mixed use and multifamily development in retail, office and light manufacturing areas; and much more.

Seating is limited; to register, go to https://www.grassrootinstitute.org and click on Events.

For more information, contact Sean Mitsui at info@grassrootinstitute.org or (808) 864-1776.