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6 required to follow the advertisement and bid procedures of Article 7, Section 9 prior to conveying an easement for the road. Mr. Brown said that in his opinion the a nswer to this question is no. Mr. Brown said that if Council authorizes the letter, the request will be assigned to one section of the Attorney General's office, probably the local government section, and this opinion will then be reviewed by the Attorney General. Mr. Brown said he cannot give a time frame for receipt of the opinion and said it is dependent on the number of requests for opinions made by the General Assembly which would take priority. Mr. Brown said that after receiving the opinion, a det ermination of the value of the property (following an assessment likely to take approximately 90 days) and replacement parkland would need to be made. He said the Department of Transportation will need to prepare a plat, and a public hearing will need to be held on any conveyance prior to Council adopting an ordinance to convey the property. Mr. Cox said he is intrigued that Mr. Brown did not cite a precedent for using an easement for a road in a park. Mr. Brown said he is not aware of any prior preced ent where this has been done, and noted that the constitutional provision for a supermajority only applies to cities and towns. Ms. Richards noted that this section of the constitution is broad and also includes streets and avenues. Mr. Caravati made a motion to authorize the City Attorney to forward the request for an opinion of conveying land for the Meadowcreek Parkway via an easement to the Attorney General and Mr. Schilling seconded the motion. Mr. Caravati said he has no doubt that Council shoul d and must solicit the opinion of the Attorney General, adding that this is the primary method provided to local governments. He said this spirit has been in existence for over 20 years and we are duty bound to follow this tradition in law to have a open and transparent government. Mr. Caravati said it is not a partisan issue, but one of good government. Mr. Schilling said he will give his time to Ms. Richards. Ms. Richards said that she has been doing research since the last meeting on the statutory duties of the Attorney General. She said the Attorney General's office has a large full - time staff. She said there has been no Democratic Attorney General since 1993. She said that both Democratic and Republican legislators, judges, constitutional offic ers, and local government officials have asked for opinions. She said that while Democrats may object to the current Attorney General, there are career members of the staff who will undoubtedly perform the study. Ms. Richards said she wants to depolitici ze the position and is seeking the statutory right to obtain a legal analysis. She said that when the issue of an easement came up in closed session, she did not hear objections from any Councilors and she assumed they would welcome such a request. Regar ding comments made about the City Attorney's opinion, Ms. Richards said that the City Attorney has never tailor made legal opinions to the majority of Council and she is confident that he has not done so in this case. Mr. Lynch said he is glad that Ms. R ichards has conducted so much research. He said that part of the duties of the Attorney General's office is to be counsel to VDOT and we are asking them to make an opinion when they represent them. Mr. Lynch said Mr. Brown did an admirable job with the l etter to the Attorney General, but feels a better first question would be is an easement an appropriate mechanism for transference of property for a road, and he would like to see that asked. He said he would like to be clear about what it would take for him to support the Meadowcreek Parkway and listed the following: equivalent parkland; funding for the interchange; and a funding commitment to a regional network, including the eastern connector and design of a southern parkway. Mr. Lynch said he thinks an easement is a subterfuge to get around a reasonable requirement. Mr. Lynch said the Meadowcreek Parkway in isolation will not solve the problem.