Los Angeles International Airport’s Master Plan will come a little closer to reality this weekend, when the Department of Airports begins its latest series of public meetings on the ambitious, multi-billion-dollar expansion proposal.

But if airport officials are hoping for a smooth takeoff for their growth plans, concerns harbored by nearby cities, homeowners and environmental groups could provide some unwanted turbulence.

Beginning July 12, the Department of Airports will begin holding a series of public hearings known as “scoping” meetings, which are held to gather public testimony on what should be included in the project’s draft environmental impact report.

Representatives from homeowner and environmental organizations from Westwood to Hawthorne are ready with a laundry list of concerns ranging from how to mitigate increased ground traffic and air pollution to how an expected increase in noisy takeoffs and landings will affect children at neighborhood schools.

“There are a jillion questions that need to be answered,” said Hawthorne City Councilwoman Ginny McGinnis Lambert.

LAX’s Master Plan is a long-range plan to guide the airport’s growth through the year 2015.

According to Department of Airports forecasts, LAX passenger traffic will nearly double to 98 million passengers a year over the next two decades. Cargo traffic is expected to more than double from 1.7 million tons in 1994 to 4.1 million tons in 2015.

Amid such growth, airport facilities already are operating at or near capacity. Should operations become even more gridlocked, airport officials fear LAX could lose customers to less congested international airports, such as Denver or San Francisco.

While economic development and international trade officials eagerly await a new, larger LAX, the airport’s neighbors worry that such a massive expansion the project is slated to cost between $8 billion and $12 billion will severely undercut the quality of life in their neighborhoods.

Specifically, neighbors are concerned about what an increase in passenger and cargo capacity will mean for levels of air pollution, groundwater contamination, noise and street traffic.

As it is, the airport’s explosive growth in recent years already has taken a toll on daily life, said Pam Brown, a Westchester resident and a member of the West Beach/Playa Del Rey Property Owners Association who plans to voice her concerns at Saturday’s scoping meeting.

“We live in a community with schools, where kids play outside,” said Brown. “The soot comes down from the sky. You get it on you. I don’t see how they can expect our kids to learn and play and be active in that kind of environment.”

Department of Airports Executive Director John J. Driscoll expressed confidence that the environmental impact report would sufficiently address the concerns of neighbors like Brown.

“We’re committed to mitigating all of the negative impacts,” Driscoll said. “It is going to be hard, but I think we can do it.”

The next generation of airplanes, he said, will be up to 80 percent quieter than those of today; and they are expected to cut emissions by as much as 40 percent.

At this point, the LAX Master Plan consists of four design concepts, all of which call for extending and reconfiguring the airport’s existing four runways.

All of the proposals call for a new western terminal building near the El Segundo Bluffs; a people-mover system; a new roadway ringing the airport and connecting directly to nearby freeways; and expanded cargo facilities.

The concepts differ in the way they would reconfigure and add new runways. Two of the proposals call for a new runway for commuter aircraft to be built at the northern edge of the airport which residents fear would increase noise in communities like Westchester and Playa del Rey.

Another design concept, which proposes a new runway at the airport’s southern edge, has sparked similar fears in El Segundo. And still another option calls for using the nearby municipal airport in Hawthorne for commuter aircraft.

A fifth option, to do nothing, also will be studied in the report.

The draft EIR will take about 12 months to complete at which point the Department of Airports will decide which option, or combination of options, to pursue, Driscoll said. Then the report will be resubmitted to the public for additional comments.

Any eventual expansion must be approved by the L.A. City Council, the mayor and the Federal Aviation Administration.