MICHAEL GATES while Huntington Beach City Attorney (Tribune photo).

Michael Gates, the one-time city attorney for Huntington Beach who came to prominence for his legal battles on behalf of Surf City with the State of California, is back home.

Gates left for Washington, D.C., to become a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

But after several months, he’s back working for the city .

In a post on social media dated Nov. 9 , he wrote: “After 10 months of serving the country with much sacrifice away from the family and enduring very difficult circumstances, I have made the decision to return to Huntington Beach to work for the city.”

His explanation was that “this experience taught me how much I love Huntington Beach and how much spending these months away from my family has been pretty unbearable.”

He will assume the post of chief assistant city attorney, effective Nov. 24.

Among the battles that Huntington Beach has fought with Sacramento was the state’s regional housing needs allocation requiring that the city zone for an additional 13,000 housing units and the city’s requirement for voters to present identification when casting a ballot.