Hilaire Schoonjans

Hilaire Schoonjans (16 May 1933 – 11 October 2022) was a Belgian politician of the CVP that later became CD&V. Schoonjans was mayor of Lochristi. He realized, among other things, the "General Plan of Construction" (in Dutch: Algemeen Plan van Aanleg, APA) to lay the foundation for the rapid development of the Lochristi municipality.

Schoonjans was born in 1933. He was the oldest child of his parents Omer Schoonjans and Juliette. Like his brothers, he attended boarding school as high school. He studied civil engineering. As a civil engineer he worked at ACEC. For his work he traveled a lot around the world.

In the 1950 he played football for six year in the first class with "ARA La Gantoise".

His father was an alderman and founded the local political party CVP. Schoonjans became chairman of that local political party. After the Lochristi merger in 1977, Schoonjans became alderman in Lochristi. Between 1992 and 2000 Schoonjans was mayor of Lochristi. When he was a mayor, he still held his function ad ACEC. During his time as mayor, the "General Plan of Construction" (in Dutch: Algemeen Plan van Aanleg, APA) was realized. It took 7 years to realize it. It resulted in new colored residential zones, from which the later allotments grew. There was space for agriculture and horticulture. Later in life Hilaire stated that he was very proud of the plan and what resulted from it.

Schoonjans was also chairman of the "Bond van Grote en Jonge Gezinnen", board member of the "Koninklijke Harmonie Willen is Kunnen", "Koninklijke Schuttersmaatschappij St.Sebastiaan" and "Bloemenland-Marnixring".

Schoonjans married Jenny Floré. She died in 1991. Schoonjans died at the residential care center Sint-Pieter in Lochristi on 11 October 2022, aged 89.