The other features of CodeLens like: Show Bugs, Show Test Status, etc (other than Show Reference) might be useful.
However, if the only way to disable Show References is to disable CodeLens altogether.
Then, I guess I could do just that.
Furthermore, I would do like I always have, 'right-click on a member and choose Find all References or Ctrl+K, R'
If I wanted to know what references the member -- I too like not having any extra information crammed into my code, like extra white-space.
In short, uncheck Codelens...