An $18 million parking garage could open at the northern edge of campus by the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year, if regents approve funding for its planning when they meet today and tomorrow.

The 1,500-space garage, which would be built at the northern end of North Highland Avenue, between East Helen Street and East Mabel Street, is among the proposals the Arizona Board of Regents will address. The garage would replace about 750 surface parking spots that will be lost to construction within the next few years.

It would also increase the total number of campus parking spaces by 750.

Once complete, the garage would temporarily be the most convenient parking structure for students and employees at the Arizona Health Sciences Center, said Parking and Transportation Services Director Patrick Kass.

Though regents' approval is not guaranteed, they have repeatedly voiced support for the UA's Comprehensive Campus Plan, which outlines long-term construction plans and emphasizes more garage construction on the borders of campus.

The $18 million will come largely from a funding source similar to bonds, but about $5 million will come from a fund the university pays into when it constructs buildings on top of surface parking lots.

According to the schedule, the garage's construction will begin in June and will be completed in the summer of 2005, about four months before three new biotechnology buildings open just west of University Medical Center.

"There's going to be a lot more researchers at the (biotechnology) complex that are going to need to park somewhere," said David Duffy, director of campus and facilities planning.

The new garage will only temporarily be the most convenient parking structure for workers at the new buildings and the health sciences campus. Around 2006 or 2007, another garage will likely be constructed around North Cherry Avenue and East Mabel Street, Kass said.

Both garages will be constructed as part of an effort to decrease surface parking in the middle of campus and rely more heavily on parking garages around the campus perimeter. More people would then need to walk or bike from the edge of campus to class or work in the center.

Moving cars away from the campus center will allow the UA to use space more efficiently, Duffy said.

"Land area devoted to expensive surface lots is no longer an effective use of that land area," he said.

If regents approve further planning of the garage tomorrow, they will need to vote again later this year on whether construction can begin.

At the meetings, regents will also consider whether to offer head football coach Mike Stoops a five-year contract that could net him nearly $1.3 million per year in salary and incentives.

The five-year contract pays Stoops a base salary of $650,000 per year, and incentives of up to $630,000 per year depending on the team's performance, players' graduation rates and other factors.

The regents must approve the contract even though Stoops has been working since December.

Regents will also vote on whether to allow an $8.6 million project that would renovate three residence halls and add 80 beds to Gila and Yuma Residence Halls.

The project, which would take place this summer, would convert lounge space in those two halls to bedrooms, and replace plumbing systems in Yuma, Gila and Arizona Residence Halls.

The proposed renovation to Yuma Hall sparked controversy last semester when Residence Life Director Jim Van Arsdel asked Yuma residents if they wanted a different hall designated for honors students to compensate for the lost lounge space.

Though Yuma is old, and many consider it one of the campus' most run-down halls, its residents told Van Arsdel they appreciated its charm and family-like atmosphere, and asked him not to remove its honors designation. Van Arsdel has since agreed that Yuma will remain an honors hall.

Regents will also appoint five UA faculty members as regent professors, a title meant to distinguish faculty whose achievements have brought them national or international distinction.

The five faculty members are: