It’s been four years since Gov. Jared Polis trumpeted the promise of the Global Energy Park near Golden as a future state-of-the-art laboratory — one that would position Colorado and Jefferson County as “leaders in the future of energy.”

But the hopes contained in those lofty words from his October 2021 announcement have dimmed as the 9.3-acre, state-owned parcel has continued to sit vacant. In recent months, the state instead has begun eyeing the site, which lies in the shadow of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab , for an apartment complex.

It’s a shift that vocal neighbors in the Pleasant View neighborhood on the edge of Golden are calling a “bait and switch.” They consider it an affront to residents who had reluctantly come to terms with a lab being built t

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