Hrabik Announces Bid for City Council

Kenney Hrabik, owner of Dove Canyon Courtyard, has formally announced he will run for Rancho Santa Margarita City Council.

Hrabik made the announcement a week ago in front of about 250 supporters who gathered at Dove Canyon Courtyard, a wedding and banquet facility owned by Hrabik.

He said his platform will include "cutting government waste, safer schools, and bringing back jobs to Rancho."

"I am running to give Rancho Santa Margarita residents a voice," he said. "I have watched two recent votes by the same three council members to block reforming their personal benefits, retirement accounts, and term limits.

"The majority of Orange County cities have adopted term limits and others are currently reforming their benefits. It upsets me that our community was denied the opportunity to vote on these important issues in the November election."

At a meeting on March 28, the City Council agreed to discuss the issue of benefits no later than August following the completion of a proposed citywide survey that would get residents' opinions on a wide range of issues.

A resident of RSM for 21 years, Hrabik is well known to city officials. He was with the city and neighbors in the surrounding residential areas who complained about the noise coming from his Dove Canyon Courtyard, which was in violation of a zoning code at the time. The DCC became one of the and pitted neighbor against neighbor—those who weren't bothered by the noise and those who were. Hrabik eventually received a Conditional Use Permit—he was originally given an Occupancy Permit when the business opened in 2006—then filed a claim threatening to sue the city for $250,000; he ultimately agreed to being reiumbursed $50,000 of his estimated $60,000 expenses to get the CUP while acknowledging that he had been in violation of city ordinances on his property site.

Not only was Hrabik a fixture at City Council and Planning Commission meetings during that span, but afteward he became one of the finalists for the vacated council seat of Gary Thompson. He was to replace Thompson; Hrabik eventually removed his name from contention and Carol Gamble was appointed.

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Petrilla, who departed Friday for a 400-day deployment to Afghanistan as part of the California National Guard, was among those in attendance at Hrabik's announcement on April 17.

More recently, Hrabik and planning commissioner Peter Whittingham—who has also indicated an interest in running for city council—were involved in trying to institute a petition that they called a "Voters Bill of Rights" that apparently used faulty information to make the claim that RSM had a poor business climate; the suggested means of fixing the business climate was through non-business means such as term limits, reduced benefits to council members, and posting pictures and salary of all previous council members on the city's website.

Hrabik also recently circulated an email campaign claiming that the cost of all salary and benefits to council members since the city incorporated in 2000 had cost the city $1 million—an error by about $500,000 too much.

In the release announcing his candidacy, Hrabik said his 25 years of business experience would be a "great addition" to the council.

"I know personally the expense, time and red tape you must go through to open a business in Rancho Santa Margarita," Hrabik said, drawing on his own unique experience. "I will work towards a smaller, smarter, simplified local government."