Good news: Two key City Council committees this week finally approved a long-overdue major rezoning of a large part of Inwood at Manhattan’s northern tip.

Bad news: Activists opposed to any change that might bring significant improvements to the neighborhood managed to limit the plan and impose other major changes.

Plus, City Hall had to kick in another $200 million worth of local investments (on top of $300 million already committed) to sweeten the pot. Essentially, it was a payoff to local Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, whose approval was needed to move the plan forward.

“Needed” because City Council custom gives each member a veto over zoning changes for his or her district. Council Speaker Corey Johnson has vowed to kill the practice — but hasn’t yet.

It’s not just City Hall that gets held up: Private developers have long had to commit millions in “community improvements” to buy off local opposition to their projects.

But Inwood, last rezoned in 1961, needs a chance to grow and, yes, change.

The plan as finally revamped after three hours of closed-door negotiations covers 59 blocks and provides for significant development of largely industrial eastern Inwood, now home mostly to auto-repair shops.

The changes include height limits on new construction in some areas and rent protections for small businesses. The area also will get a new library and performing-arts center, plus public access to the now-cut-off waterfront as well as two new parks there.

Plus 6.5 million square feet of commercial development and 5,100 new and restored units of affordable housing — though a key central area was excluded at the last minute at Rodriguez’s demand.

The naysayers still claim the changes will drive out working-class and immigrant families. But this is about the needs of the whole city as well as the chance to revitalize the area — and the city’s needs have changed enormously since 1961.

New York’s boom over the last two decades-plus makes rezoning a must, all across town. Locals deserve a voice in the changes, but not an absolute veto. It shouldn’t take nine-figure payoffs to get anything done.