Kettering Medical Center expects to break ground this year on a major expansion project after reaching a settlement with attorney and hospital neighbor Gregory Engler.

The expansion could include an outpatient surgery center, proton cancer center, parking garage and office building east of Southern Boulevard.

Hospital officials said plans are not final, but spokesman Bob Jackson called an early estimate of 100 new jobs “likely a conservative number.”

Kettering city officials in April approved the expansion despite vocal opposition from some residents, and Engler filed legal appeals, both to City Council and Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

In the settlement statement signed by Engler and Kettering Medical Center President Roy Chew, KMC agrees to limit the cancer center to 60 feet high (with the east side one story lower), significantly increase the landscaping buffer between the development and Stonebridge Road, and ask the city to permanently close Blossom Heath Drive between Stonebridge and Southern Boulevard.

In return, Engler agreed to withdraw his appeals.

“The three main issues were height of the buildings, traffic and its impact on the neighborhood, and the buffer zone,” Engler said.

“The settlement addresses all three of those, so we’re pretty excited,” Engler added.

Kettering City Manager Mark Schwieterman said closing the small section of Blossom Heath would require public hearings before the city’s Planning Commission and approval by City Council.